Plundered Hearts
by Sora G. Silverwind
Summary: Rukifellth and Lilith find that they can steal more than just treasure... Ch.24: Honesty
1. Silly Hats

**Plundered Hearts**

_**by Sora G. Silverwind**_

**Summary: Rukifellth and Lilith find that they can steal more than just treasure...**

**Rating: PG-13 for language, suggestive jokes/situations, and (cartoon?) violence.**

**Author's notes: Pardon the cheesy title. It was better than "Piratical Passions," which just sounds like a really, really, really, _really_ bad soap opera.**

**Done from a set of 30 themes compiled by Vyctori Windheart and her friend Rallalon. Vyc's an author on here who writes for Fire Emblem, Golden Sun, and Tales of Symphonia, so be sure to check her out!**

**The chapters take place at various times in a variety of places and in a variety of situations. Since I essentially have two versions of the characters in my twisted head, I'll indicate whether the chapter should be read visualizing their chibi forms (their original forms in the game) or their realistic forms (the forms that no one except me knows about...just picture them in regular human proportions, anime-style, or however you want to do it).**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the original Lilith and Rukifellth, but I do own their customizations. It should be fairly clear what I do and do not own. And, uh, Rukifellth's claiming that he owns Lilith, but I think that's something best saved for the fic, amirite?**

B-O-M-B

_**Silly Hats - chibi**_

B-O-M-B

"Rukifellth."

Rukifellth tore his attention away from the control panel of the ship, where he'd been watching the built-in TV screen. He quickly switched it off and grinned sheepishly at the glaring redhead behind him. "I wasn't watching _Ogenki Clinic_ again, honest!" he insisted.

Lilith rolled her eyes. "I don't even know why I try anymore."

"Because you love me?"

"I'd love to hate you."

"You mean you don't hate me now?"

Lilith didn't answer that. "Take a look at this." She tapped a few keys on the main keyboard, bringing up a holographic projection of a computer screen featuring the mug shots of two males. Smaller holographic screens with information popped up around the main one. "I know we don't usually go after bounties, but I just found this one and it looks too good to pass up."

Rukifellth leaned forward, eyes narrowed in interest. "The Mario Brothers? That's a mafia name if I ever heard one."

"Yep." Lilith sat down in the co-pilot's seat, next to Rukifellth. "Consists of Mario Mario and his younger brother, Luigi Mario. Their crime history is pretty impressive, ranging from kidnapping to grand larceny to repeated counts of aggravated assault. Add to that seven counts of murder and conspiracy against the king. Looks like they also do a little drug-dealing on the side, specializing in mushrooms."

Rukifellth snorted. "And everyone thought _we_ were bad. So who wants their heads?"

"He's 'king of the Koopas'—Bowser is his name."

Rukifellth snapped to attention. "Royalty, eh?"

Lilith smiled. "Now you know why I showed you this."

"What's he paying?"

"350 million Koopa Koins and a pick of one of five 'rare and valuable' Koopa Treasures."

"...Lilith, have I ever told you how much I love you?"

"Not in the past ten minutes."

Rukifellth grinned and tugged gently on Lilith's arm to pull her closer and plant a kiss on her cheek. "Then, I love you."

"That was...strangely tame for you," she said, raising an eyebrow.

Rukifellth snickered. "Why? Did you want something more?"

"Hardly. It's just that when you're actually a gentleman to me, you usually end up asking me about something that makes me want to strangle you."

Rukifellth clutched his shirt in an expression of mock hurt. "Lilith! You've no faith in me at all."

"Of course I do. I have faith that you're a pervert at heart." Lilith patted Rukifellth's head. "Now come on, space cowboy, we've got a bounty to snatch."

"Space cowboy? That's a new one." Rukifellth rubbed his chin in thought as he peered at his reflection in the window. "I've certainly got the hat for it..."

Lilith quickly snatched the aforementioned item off Rukifellth's head and placed it on her own. "Not anymore, you don't!" she said.

"Hey!" Rukifellth reached for his hat. "Give that back!"

Lilith giggled and stepped just out of his arm's reach. She stuck her tongue out at him. "If you don't have the hat, let's see if you have the moves!" And she ran off.

"Lilith, you _so_ just made a pass at me!" Rukifellth yelled out, running after her.

B-O-M-B

Lilith swiftly navigated the metallic hallways of the Warship Noah, trying to find a good place to hide. She ignored the engine room: too hot and too noisy. She ran past the kitchen: too tempting to steal one of the knives—or the bagel slicer—and use it on a certain someone. She descended a flight of steps to a lower level...and stopped in front of the door to Rukifellth's bedroom.

_The letter hiding in plain sight_, Lilith thought smugly, punching the password in the keypad and walking through the sliding door. _He won't check in here for sure! I've only been in here once and that was to get the panties he stole from me._

The room was spacious and clean, simple but comfortable. Rukifellth's built-in bunk held a stack of comic books and some pajamas. The walls featured various pin-ups and a guitar chord reference poster. There was a writing desk, a bookshelf of books and DVDs, a dresser topped with framed photos of herself and Rukifellth, and a walk-in closet. "Got any skeletons in your closet, Ruk?" she asked, giggling again as she threw open the closet doors. Her brown eyes suddenly widened. "...whoah."

The closet was filled with shelves upon shelves of hats.

Cowboy hats.

Berets.

Baseball caps.

Top hats.

Fedoras.

Straw hats.

Hats, hats, hats.

Lilith stared open-mouthed at the headwear extravaganza before her. "Holy..." she started, reaching out in awe. "That is one nice sombrero."

B-O-M-B

Rukifellth leaned against the wall, puzzled. _Where could Lilith have gone?_ he wondered. The Noah was big, but most of it was taken up by the engine room and other structural doodads that were necessary to keep the craft functioning. The actual living space wasn't horribly huge when compared to the size of the entire ship. He wasn't annoyed by the situation at all—actually, he thought of it as a perfect opportunity to make Lilith eat her words—but it was a confuzzling one for him.

Rukifellth sighed. He didn't want to admit defeat by calling Lilith on her communicator, but it looked like he had no choice. Unfortunately, he'd left his communicator in his room, so he'd have to backtrack a few levels. It was just as well; he needed to change his clothes anyway.

He opened the door to his room...and was greeted by the sight of Lilith wearing a large Viking helmet.

Rukifellth stared at her.

Lilith stared back at him.

A silence fell.

Then...

Rukifellth chuckled. "Does this mean you—"

"Don't even finish it."

Rukifellth only laughed harder. "That's not what I was going to say. I was going to ask if this meant you had a craving for Spam."

Lilith's face colored as red as her hair.

Rukifellth wrapped his arms around her tightly and kissed her on the lips. "Have I told you how much I love you?"

"Yes, a little over ten minutes ago."

"Well, I still love you."

"I love you too."


	2. Vanity

B-O-M-B

_**Vanity – realistic**_

B-O-M-B

Rukifellth liked his long hair. A lot.

It usually got him weird—and sometimes admiring—looks from other men. But that didn't bother him at all. He looked mighty fine with long hair, if he did say so himself. No wonder both genders were attracted to him.

Rukifellth took special care with it. He braided it before going to bed, straightened it out when he woke up, used only the best shampoo and conditioner that he could find, made sure it wasn't exposed to too much chlorine, and if it was, he got it treated straightaway, and so forth.

His hair was a brilliant robin's egg blue. It was thick enough to be lush, but not so much as to border on being a second entity of its own. It was silky smooth, and shimmered like an ocean wave as a result of Rukifellth's dedicated TLC.

It was also a big pain in the ass.

How many times had an opponent taken advantage of his locks to disable him in battle? Far too many for Rukifellth to be comfortable with. It was embarrassing, the situations he ended up in because of that. How many hours of sleep had he lost just to wake up early enough to tend to his hair? Probably more than all the stars in the universe, he supposed. It was hell for him on sweltering summer days, when no amount of pulling it back would alleviate the extra heat weighing on his shoulders. And he hadn't always been proud of it; more than once in his adolescent school career had he itched to take a cleaver to his hair because his classmates wouldn't accept him otherwise. Some of the incidents resulting from that still hurt in his mind. However, he'd grown it long for a reason.

It was a tribute to his murdered mother.

One of the main things Rukifellth remembered about Andrea in the short time that he'd known her was her abundance of wavy locks. Her hair was mocha brown, a stark contrast to the various shades of blue that Rukifellth, his younger sister, and his father all sported. He remembered the fresh, flowery scent of it when he had hugged her and buried his face in her hair, and when she carried him on her back when he was tired of walking. She had a lot of scents for her hair, now that Rukifellth thought about it. Sometimes it was lavender. Other times it was passion fruit or coconut, and one time he was sure it smelled like a birthday cake. His favorite was juniper: it was calming to him, and reminded him of the forest near their mansion on Yretsym, where he liked to hide away most of the time. But if he couldn't go there, hiding in his mother's hair was just as good.

However, it now seemed to him that this initial motivation in growing his hair had faded with the years. Now, it had simply become a habit for him, a habit smelling faintly of old deaths dying hard and a lost childhood that was probably better off lost. What else was there to keep him from chopping it all off and freeing himself from such a strange burden?

"Ruki..."

Rukifellth smirked upon hearing Lilith's slightly intoxicated drawl float up over his shoulder. "You all right there, Lilith?"

Lilith grinned and tightened her arms around his waist, hugging him from behind. She snuggled against his back. "Your hair's so comfortable," she whispered, giggling breathlessly. "I bet if I fell asleep on your back, I could use it as a blanket _and_ a pillow."

Rukifellth snorted. "Normally I wouldn't mind," he said, grasping her hands in his, "but in your state I wouldn't recommend it."

"Are you implying that I can't hold my liquor?"

"I'm just saying..."

"I'm offended, Rukifellth! I might be female, but I most certainly can hold my liquor, more than _you_ could ever dream of doing, thank you very much!"

"I didn't mean it like that, honest."

"If you ever question my uber-awesome womanly powers again, I will be forced to mutilate your hair and roast it in extra-virgin olive oil."

"In that case, I'll simply shut up now."

"Heeeee...that's right, bitch. You do that."

A sweet silence filled the space between them for a few moments.

Then...

"Ruki?"

"Yes'm?"

"If you ever cut your hair short, I will be forced to mutilate your genitals."

"Yes'm."


	3. See the world my way

B-O-M-B

_**See the world my way – realistic**_

B-O-M-B

Lilith slowly comes to her senses.

She feels slightly woozy and more than a little disgruntled.

Her brown eyes scan her surroundings.

She's in an old jail cell—filthy, dusty, and reeking of the foulest kinds of play.

From across the way, she sees the rotting skeleton of a condemned criminal, the skull tilted at an unnatural angle.

Blood is splattered across the concrete walls of the cell.

Lilith shudders.

She's suddenly aware that she lacks a significant amount of circulation in her arms.

Her gaze drifts upwards.

Her wrists are held high above her head with thick metal cuffs.

Lilith blinks. "The hell...?" She tries to wiggle her way out, to no avail.

"Ah, so you're awake."

Lilith's head turns upon hearing the familiar voice.

Rukifellth smiles back at her from behind the metal bars.

Lilith stares at him for a while.

...she frowns.

"You're not Rukifellth," she says shortly.

"A perceptive one, aren't we?" Rukifellth takes a step forward...and walks smoothly _through_ the bars as though he were a ghost.

Lilith's eyes widen. "Phasing through solid matter..." she mutters. "You're _definitely_ not him. Who the hell are you and what the hell have you done with Rukifellth?"

"Nothing particularly heinous. I've merely put him to sleep."

"Why?"

"I just need to borrow his body for a bit, that's all." Rukifellth reaches out to stroke Lilith's face. "No need to worry—"

"Don't touch me!" Lilith spits, jerking away.

Rukifellth pretends to look hurt. "Now, now, didn't your mother teach you to honor your elders?" he says.

Lilith's mouth drops open a bit. "Who..._are_...you?" she asks again, her tone low and venomous.

Rukifellth smirks and crosses his arms. "I'm not sure what you lot call me," he says. "Those of this realm, no matter their genetic make-up, are irritatingly inconsistent even when it comes to describing the exact same thing. But I call myself Sthertoth, the Demon of the Dark, the God of Chaos."

Lilith shakes her head. "No offense, but I've never heard of you before."

"Is that so?" Rukifellth cocks his head to one side. "Then you and I shall have to strike up an acquaintance." He smiles, and Lilith shivers at the lack of warmth behind the expression. "I'm a very personable demon, you know. Relatively speaking, of course."

"Let me out of these things," Lilith hisses. "_Now._"

"Desperate to leave so soon? Well, you're most certainly free to go at any time you wish...provided you can break out of your bonds." Rukifellth smirks. "Otherwise, you are stuck here until I decide to let you go." His eyes travel down her figure, and his eyebrows rise in interest. "Heh...I'm not even sure if I _want_ to let you go."

Lilith kicks out at him. "You lecherous son-of-a-bitch!"

Rukifellth chuckles and jumps back in time to avoid Lilith's foot. "Careful, now," he says, wagging a no-no finger at her. "You wouldn't want to damage this fragile body too much, would you? After all, I'm sure your boyfriend still needs it."

"He's not my boyfriend."

"Of course he isn't."

Lilith gives him a dirty look. "I may regret asking this question, but...what do I have to do to get out of here?"

"It's very simple." Rukifellth moves closer again, but this time Lilith refrains from lashing out. "I merely need you to cooperate with me for just a little bit. If you do so, I promise I won't hurt you, and I'll even give back your precious boyfriend."

"What, exactly, am I cooperating in?"

Rukifellth's voice is filled with barely restrained glee. "My goal is to usher in a new world of darkness in this realm, a world that will allow my demonic children to claim the power and glory that is rightly theirs by virtue of their superior blood!" he says, spreading his arms out in a dramatic gesture. "Too long have they allowed themselves to be subjugated and stomped upon in the name of meaningless ideals like 'justice' and 'righteousness.' There are no such things—they are merely the construct of weaklings who cannot otherwise gain power!" He fixes Lilith's gaze with his own. "It will be an era of the strong! Only those who have power and seek more will be able to survive! The unworthy will die away, like they were meant to, leaving only the best of the best. It will be a veritable utopia of the elite...and it will all be under my rule!" He smiles. "If you assist me, I will grant you a place at my side. You shall be my demon queen, with powers and abilities beyond imagination!"

Lilith presses her lips together in a thin line of defiance.

"Hmm." Rukifellth quirks an eyebrow. "You don't seem very enthused by my proposition."

"To say the least." Lilith tries to break out of the cuffs again, and fails. "Not only do I not logically buy into this philosophy of racial superiority and all that jazz, but I haven't exactly had the best experience with it, either."

"Completely understandable. That Jonquil character seems like a right bastard, to be sure."

Lilith's head snaps up in shock.

Rukifellth's normally blue eyes are glowing an ominous red.

"How the hell do you know about him?" she demands.

"My dear," he answers calmly, "I am a demon...and I am a god. I can find out some things easily enough if I want to."

Lilith takes a deep breath...and lets it out. "In that case, I'm sure you've found out what my answer is to your offer."

"And it's a shame." Rukifellth gently ruffles Lilith's bangs. Lilith flinches ever so slightly. "You have such potential, you know."

"Potential for what? Being a walking apocalypse? I don't think so, buddy."

Rukifellth sighs. "Woman, what is your name?"

"...Lilith."

"Oh?" Rukifellth's eyes glitter with interest, still glowing red. "You bear the name of the feared goddess of temptation and control, Lilita? Then that is all the more reason for you to be my queen."

Lilith snorts. "My name means 'born of wisdom' in my mother's language. And that means that I'm too smart to go along with your silly shit. Find yourself another demon bitch."

"Oh me, oh my." Rukifellth shakes his head. "What can I do to convince you that this will be most beneficial for you in the long run?" He suddenly grins, baring his teeth. "Perhaps if I do this..."

And he lifts up a hand.

It shimmers red.

The hand suddenly transforms into a deadly monster claw, spindly and bony.

The nails are exceptionally long, with a keen edge and a sharp point.

Rukifellth's eyes catch Lilith's gaze again.

He places a finger to his throat with the point of the nail pressed against the skin.

Lilith stares. "What are you doing?"

Rukifellth smiles even wider.

And he slowly drags the nail across the flesh.

Lilith gasps. "_No!_" she cried. "Don't do it!"

Rukifellth grins. "Oh, don't worry, this'll hurt him much more than it hurts me."

Lilith thrashes against her bonds. "_Stop it!_" she screams frantically. "_Don't you dare hurt him!_"

Rukifellth ignores her.

The finger trails across the pale skin, cutting a fine line into it.

"_STOP!"_

Red seeps out of the slit in delicate droplets.

Tears have begun to stream from Lilith's eyes.

"_NNNGH! STOP IT, DAMN YOU!"_

The nail digs in deeper with every centimeter it travels, closing in on the jugular vein...

Lilith's hands are clenched into angry fists.

Rukifellth only registers the desperation on her face as he mutilates himself.

And he smiles in satisfaction.

"_I SWEAR TO GODS, IF YOU DON'T STOP, I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!"_

"I'd like to see you try from your position."

Lilith's hair swirls in the air.

Her eyes briefly flash golden.

And a dome of sizzling orange energy suddenly springs up around her.

_SHWEEEEEM!_

"UGH!" Rukifellth flies backwards from the sudden burst of energy.

He slams hard into the metal bars of the cell.

_BAM!_

And he slumps to the ground, grimacing.

Lilith stares at him wide-eyed. "What...d-did I just do?" she stutters.

A pause.

...Rukifellth smirks.

"Oh...I see." He gets to his feet and dusts himself off. "So _that's_ how it is."

Lilith gives him an inquiring look, her eyes still glimmering with tears.

Her shoulders heave with the deep breaths she's taking to calm herself.

"It is as could be expected...but it does make things more interesting." Rukifellth changes his hand back to normal, then holds it to his throat. The fingers glow red, closing up the cut without leaving a scar. With this done, he walks towards Lilith and cups her face in his hands, his thumbs caressing her cheek. "Ah, yes," he breathes. "This will make things interesting indeed."

Lilith glares. "I hate you."

Rukifellth only laughs. "I hate you too, Mihaele."


	4. Humility

B-O-M-B

_**Humility – chibi **_

B-O-M-B

Lilith put down her book and sighed. "Rukifellth, for the last time, I'm not going to sleep with you just yet. I don't feel ready."

"But we're engaged! Surely that has to mean _something_ to your cold, cruel heart!"

"Of course it does." Lilith pulled Rukifellth close and held him tightly. "It means I've given my life and love over to you. It does not mean, however, that I've given my virginity over to you."

Rukifellth snuggled against her. "You're no fun," he muttered.

"Oh, and I suppose that's why you proposed to me in the first place?"

"Aw, come on, it shouldn't be that big of a deal. We'll use that birth control stuff or whatever!"

Lilith pulled on his hair. "You have no sensitivity whatsoever to female sexuality, you know that?"

"I resent that!" Rukifellth said, sitting up and looking at her seriously. "I am _very_ sensitive to female sexuality. Why, if I knew a girl was a lesbian, I wouldn't even _dare_ to approach her!"

Lilith sighed. "What do I have to do to make you understand my dilemma?"

"Sleep with me?"

Lilith grinned. "Better yet," she said, cracking her knuckles. "I'll make you feel the pain of childbirth."

_**RUKIFELLTH'S PREMONITION**_

_In a cold, cruel hospital room..._

_Rukifellth lies on a hospital bed, his legs wide open and his face scrunched in agony. "NNNNGH!"_

_Lilith stands in front of him, holding a camcorder. "C'mon, honey! Push! PUSH, damn you! I want this to be a scene they'll be showing at the next ten Oscar Awards, you hear me?"_

_Rukifellth wails. "YOU DID THIS TO MEEEEEEEE—"_

_**END RUKIFELLTH'S PREMONITION**_

Rukifellth paled. "M-Maybe you and I could just...you know...watch yoga tapes?"

Lilith gave him a weird look. "We don't have yoga tapes."

A pause.

"...I have Tantric yoga ones in my room."

_KA-SMACK!_

"_Ow!_ It's for educational purposes only, I swear!"


	5. Chocolate

B-O-M-B

_**Chocolate – chibi**_

B-O-M-B

It's the 88th Annual Culinary Arts Regalia of the Ka'Oracian Hospitality Institute of the Castoric Galaxy.

It's a festive, formal ball, held in a gargantuan banquet hall with an anti-gravity crystal chandelier hanging from the center of the ceiling and four water fountains—all glowing different colors—in the corners of the open-air hall. The occasion is meant to celebrate creativity and skill in the culinary arts, the ability to make food taste as good as it looks and vice versa. As such, edible displays of art are all over the place, ranging from the simple to the fancy to the fabulously outrageous.

The most noticeable display, however, is that of a 12-foot-tall swan carved entirely of white chocolate, the centerpiece of the ball. It spreads its creamy wings over a watery surface of blueberry preserves, and an intricately designed golden collar studded with native gemstones adorns its slender neck.

Around the hall, men show off suits in as many shades and styles as there are unique displays of art here at the Regalia. The women swish around in elegant ball gowns while tottering precariously on delicately carved platforms or sharp stilettos.

But one young woman is too hot for heels.

Petite, graceful Lilith glides across the room, her more practical space boots hidden beneath layers upon layers of iridescent orange satin and translucent silk. Her short red hair sports a hairpin adorned with a beautiful golden butterfly. Its wings flap in time to Lilith's steps. She clasps a lacy folding fan in her hand. She's on a mission today, but even so, she's determined to enjoy the festivities as long as she can.

"Miss Sasami Jurai?"

Lilith's head snaps up at the mention of her alias. An extremely heavyset man stands before her, a greasy smile on his porkish face. "Yes, I am she," she replies, bowing. "However, I don't believe I've ever had the pleasure of meeting you before, sir."

"No, no, the pleasure's all mine," the man says, bowing as well as his massive stomach will allow him to. A wallet that's just as fat as he is peeks out from over his white shirt pocket, something Lilith eyes with interest. "I'm Señor Tostada from channel T67, sub-wave Zeta Chi. We're the Tri-Nebula cooking channel. I assume you're familiar with us?"

"Oh, absolutely."

"Of course, of course." Señor Tostada claps his hands together. "I hope you wouldn't be averse to a friendly discussion of your famous carrot cakes. During this next dance, perhaps?"

Lilith laughs. "Talking desserts during a dance? You're an odd one."

Señor Tostada winks. "Oddness sells."

Lilith winks right back. "I can buy that." She offers an arm to him. "All right, then—desserts during the dance it is!"

"Sasami!"

Both Lilith and Señor Tostada turn around. Rukifellth, who's dressed in a dark blue tuxedo and a matching cloak, is waving at Lilith. He's trying to look casual, but there's something agitated about his movements and posture. "Sasami!" Rukifellth calls again. "Don't you remember? You promised me this next dance!"

Lilith blinks. "...no I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

"When?"

Rukifellth jerks his head in a certain direction. "You know, over there, by the pornographic cheese sculpture! When we were both tasting that wine? After that dude with the yellow scarf left? You know?"

Rukifellth sounds absolutely ridiculous, but Lilith senses an urgency in his voice that convinces her to play along. "Ah...you're right," she says slowly. "I _did_ promise you that, didn't I?" She retracts her arm from Señor Tostada and curtsies again. "My apologies, sir. I seem to have forgotten an obligation to my friend here. Will another time be all right?"

Señor Tostada nods. "Most certainly, Miss Jurai. We'll keep in touch." And he waddles off.

Rukifellth walks up beside Lilith and watches Señor Tostada disappear into the crowd. "You were ready to dance with_ him_ over _me_?" he asks, incredulous. "I'm insulted!"

"I was ready to get my hands on a very decent stash of Delta Dollars," Lilith hisses, "so I hope you have a good reason for pulling me away from the Bank of Tub-a-Lub."

Rukifellth swiftly yanks Lilith with him onto the dance floor as a slow dance begins to play. The two fall into perfect step with each other. "Well, first of all, you _did _promise me a dance here," he says, grinning. "But that was before we came."

"Only because you kept on whining about it."

"I was not whining—I was beseeching you."

"That's even worse."

Rukifellth sighs. "You're such an Amazon."

"And you say that like it's a bad thing. Is there another reason you yanked me off that walking piggy bank?"

Rukifellth suddenly pulls Lilith close to him, his arms tight around her waist and his cheek against her hair.

Lilith blushes. "R-Rukifellth?"

"I just wanted to be with you," he says quietly. "Is that wrong?"

Lilith shakes her head. She clings tighter to him and rests her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes contentedly.

A silence rests between the two, full of emotions and sentiments that needed no words to be understood by either of them.

Rukifellth speaks again, whispering in her ear. "Not to negate what I said earlier or anything," he says, "but here's the real reason I brought you here. If we want our goods, we're going to have to act now. And by now, I mean five minutes ago."

Lilith looks up at him, perplexed. "What? But Aria is still working on disabling the security here! I just talked to her barely a minute before Señor Cash Muncher walked up—she said it was going to take her about half an hour! And she hasn't paged me yet. So why are we jumping the gun?"

Two loud, warbling emergency sirens suddenly blare from the loudspeakers in the room.

Red lights blink on and off around the perimeter of the banquet hall.

Rukifellth and Lilith pull apart.

A team of security guards dressed in dark green uniforms burst in, wielding laser guns.

The guests gasp in shock and confusion.

A woman, presumably the squadron leader, steps up and holds a megaphone to her mouth. "Lilith, the Scourge of the Spaceways, and Rukifellth, the Dark Messenger!" she announces. "You're under arrest for conspiring to steal the Rainbow Sun Collar of Queen Randira the 87th of Ka'Oracia! Hands above your head or we'll shoot immediately!"

Lilith shakes her head. "No way," she whispers. "She couldn't have."

"Oh yes she could have." Rukifellth growls. "Aria betrayed us to the authorities."

"But why?"

Rukifellth smiles thinly. "We'll find out once we...interrogate her."

"_Hands above your heads!_"

Rukifellth and Lilith obey.

The security team scrambles towards the pair, guns raised.

Rukifellth glances at Lilith.

Lilith glances back at him. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Always."

Lilith smiles.

In one swift motion, she snatches the butterfly hairpin off her head and flings it into the carpet right in front of the approaching guards.

The hairpin sticks into the carpet at a 45-degree angle.

The guards skid to a stop.

The butterfly flaps its wings. Its jeweled eyes glow red.

_BEEP...BEEP...BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!_

_**KA-BOOM!**_

The hairpin explodes in a brilliant burst of blue flames.

Most of the guards are thrown back by the force of the explosion.

The guests flee in terror, shrieking.

Lilith squints her eyes and waves her hand in front of her face to clear the smoke. She can make out the figures of a few guards unaffected by the blast and ready to attack.

She takes her folding fan and snaps it open.

The handles of small throwing knives pop out from the tops of each wooden slat of the fan, released from their secret compartments.

Lilith takes a few of the knives between her fingers and, with a flick of her wrist, sends them flying at three of the guards, catching them in the chest.

_SW-SW-SWSSH!_

Another five knives sail into the foreheads of the guards behind her.

_SW-SW-SW-SW-SWSSH!_

Meanwhile, Rukifellth has rolled up his sleeves to reveal two metal arm gauntlets.

He crosses his forearms together.

_CL-CLINK!_

Two large blades spring out from the gauntlets from just over the tops of his hands.

Rukifellth grins and settles into a battle stance.

A slash to his side severely wounds two guards across the chest.

A backwards stab impales another and renders him into a bloody mess on the ground.

There's a flurry of hot plasma bullets from behind that nearly singes his hair.

Rukifellth looks behind him to find two guards aiming their guns at him. Running towards them, he manages to skillfully deflect their shots with his blades before shoving them into their guts.

"Ruk!" Lilith calls. "Cover for me! I'm going to snatch the collar from the sculpture!"

Rukifellth smirks as he notices the piles of downed guards around the hall. "What's there to cover except your bare shoulders?" he calls back.

"That's the worst line I've heard you use yet!" is Lilith's faint response.

Rukifellth shakes his head. "Ay. An Amazon, she is."

_SHWIINNNG!_

A bright blue plasma bullet suddenly sails past his ear, leaving a slight burn.

"Ow!" Rukifellth holds a hand to his ear and turns around.

There's a new swarm of green-garbed security guards advancing on him, armed with either laser swords or laser guns.

Rukifellth simpers. "Small world after all?"

_SH-SH-SH-SHWIIING! SH-SH-SHWWIING!_

Lilith is sprinting for the swan sculpture, a plan forming itself in her mind as she runs.

She suddenly skids to a stop.

The squadron leader is stationed at the base of the sculpture, gun at the ready.

"Halt!" the leader shouts. "One step closer and I'll shoot!"

Lilith smirks. "I don't need to be one step closer."

She reaches inside the bodice of her gown to pull out a small laser pistol.

Thus armed, she fires a round of photon shots into the air.

_SP-SP-SP-SP-SPANG!_

The leader looks up.

Lilith's keen marksmanship has put a ring of melted bullet holes around the neck of the swan, effectively snapping the neck right below the collar.

The guard gulps. "Uh-oh."

_CRASH!_

The swan's giant head crashes down upon the leader, knocking her unconscious.

The Rainbow Sun Collar lands with a heavy thud on the floor.

Lilith snatches it up and waves it around. "Ruk, I've got it!"

"Great!" Rukifellth's voice is strained as he fends off two blade-wielding guards. "But a little help here?"

Lilith rolls her eyes, but smiles.

She aims her pistol and puts four shots into the guards' shoulders.

_SPANG! SPANG! SPANG! SPANG!_

The guards twitch and cry out.

Rukifellth finally pushes them off with a slash from both of his arms. "All right," he says. "Let's do the Dew and split!"

Outside, the pair makes tracks for a silver mini-jet parked just outside the banquet hall. They quickly strap themselves in, Lilith on the passenger's side and Rukifellth on the driver's.

"There they are! Get 'em!"

Rukifellth and Lilith look over their shoulders in unison to find yet another security squadron scampering after them.

"Oh, my," Lilith says in mock weariness. "Will our legion of fans ever stop following us to every corner of this universe?"

"Nope," Rukifellth says, smirking. "How can they when we're so lovable?"

Plasma shots sing past their jet, scorching the paint job.

Lilith manages to open the window long enough to lean out and fire at the front line of guards, disabling them.

"Hang onto your underthings!" Rukifellth announces, shifting the engine into gear. "We're taking off!"

Lilith obediently pulls herself back inside and rolls up the window just as a burst of orange engine flames erupts from the back of the jet, propelling them up and away and leaving behind a legion of disgruntled security guards.

It takes a couple of minutes for them to escape the gravity of planet Ka'Oracia and to make it into space. Even then, they drift for a while in vigilant silence, knowing that the police force on Ka'Oracia doubtless sent out a galaxy-wide call to find their heads and drag them to jail.

When they feel they can relax, Lilith is the one to speak. "Whew," she says, clutching the front of her dress. "Close call."

Rukifellth grins. "Not close enough."

Lilith returns the grin, then holds up the thick metal collar that is their loot for the day. Small chunks of white chocolate from the swan are still stuck to the collar. She plucks out a piece and pops it into her mouth, letting it melt. "Hmm," she muses. "Too bad we couldn't have stayed longer. That swan would have made excellent white chocolate fondue."

Rukifellth carefully maneuvers around a clump of space garbage. "Well, if you want white chocolate fondue, you could always have some of mine."

Lilith hurls the Rainbow Sun Collar at Rukifellth.

_CLUNK!_

It hits him squarely on the side of the head.

Rukifellth slumps over the steering wheel, unconscious.

"Hmph," Lilith mutters, crossing her arms. "Serves him right, the pervert."

A beat.

Lilith suddenly realizes a rather important fact.

"Oh, crap! No one's driving the jet now!"

Another beat.

Lilith looks over at Rukifellth.

She looks out at space through the window on her side.

Then back at Rukifellth.

"Oh, well," she finally says, clambering over to sit on Rukifellth's lap and man the aircraft. "I always was the better driver, anyway."


	6. Shut up and listen

B-O-M-B

_**Shut up and listen – chibi**_

B-O-M-B

Today is Lilith's birthday.

She's celebrating by hanging out with her good friends Bomberman, Pommy, and Rukifellth.

The four of them are sprawled around Bomberman's family room, dressed in pajamas and doing karaoke until the day the music dies.

"Okay, okay, okay!" Rukifellth jumps up onto the coffee table, crushing a few potato chips under his slippered feet and waving his arms wildly. "I've got an idea! Why don't we each serenade the birthday princess with a song? We've gotta do something productive with our horrible singing, after all. It's not environmentally ethical to add to the noise pollution here."

Lilith groans and buries her face in a pillow. A sparkly birthday tiara perches above her head, a halo of celebration, and she's covered in pink and white streamers. "I can already see where this is going," she mutters.

"Myu! Great idea!" Pommy scrambles onto the table and shoves Rukifellth aside. "Pommy will go first!" Pommy grabs the karaoke microphone, picks a song, and clears his throat dramatically before belting out his chosen tune.

"_Feelings...nothing more than feelings  
Trying to forget my...feelings of love..." _(1)

Lilith and Rukifellth burst into laughter at Pommy's falsetto voice desperately trying to affect a tenor tone.

Bomberman snickers. "Mihaele knows you can forget everything else."

"Myu! Not nice! Pommy will strangle Bomberman with the microphone for that!"

Bomberman steps up and boots Pommy off the table, sending the mimic flying into a pile of crumpled wrapping paper nearby. He catches the microphone in mid-air and punches in a song number. "Well, now it's my turn, puffball," he says, "so strangle this if you will!"

"_Boom, boom, boom, boom  
I want you in my room  
Let's spend the night together  
From now until forever  
Boom, boom, boom, boom  
I wanna do the boom  
Let's spend the night together  
Together in my room..." _(2)

Lilith blushes ever so slightly.

Rukifellth mock-glares as he takes the microphone from Bomberman. "Hey, now, we might be friends, but I wouldn't suggest pushing it too far, you know."

Bomberman smirks and takes a seat, grabbing a can of Dr. Pepper to soothe his thirst.

Rukifellth's brow scrunches up as he flips through the tiny binder of song titles. "Where are you, my little pretty...aha! Found you!"

"_I'm a...slave...for you  
I cannot hold it  
I cannot control it  
I'm a...slave...for you  
I won't deny it  
I'm not trying to hide it..." _(3)

Lilith rolls her eyes. "Where have you been the past ten centuries? Slavery was outlawed in this nebula with the Freedom Edict in the 9th year of Grand Emperor Anzian's reign."

Rukifellth pouts. "I try to declare perfect devotion to you and all I get in return is a history lesson? I'm so unappreciated."

"Of course you're appreciated, silly." Lilith pats Rukifellth on the head. "You get points for trying."

Rukifellth sighs and snuggles against Lilith.

"Myu!" Pommy exclaims. "Now it's Lilith's turn! Pommy wants to hear Lilith sing!"

Lilith shakes her head. "Nah. I don't do this sort of thing."

"Aw, come on, it's fun!" Bomberman adds.

Lilith waves him off. "Go on. I'm having fun watching you guys."

Bomberman simpers and shrugs. "Well, I suppose since you're the birthday girl, you're entitled to amuse yourself at our expense." He reaches for the microphone. "In that case, I wonder if they've got that one song by Asuka Matsumoto—"

"Wait wait wait!" Rukifellth jumps up and yanks the microphone from Bomberman. "Let me sing a song first!" He quickly enters the desired song number.

Bomberman's eyes boggle at Rukifellth's song choice. "What? 'Like a Virgin'? But you just sang that 15 minutes ago!"

"If we can call it singing," Pommy mutters in an undertone.

"Pfft! That was a warm-up!" Rukifellth flips his long hair over his shoulder and strikes a pose. "_This_ is the real deal!"

Bomberman, Pommy, and Lilith groan.

B-O-M-B

Later...

Bomberman is passed out on the couch from an overdose of Dr. Pepper.

A tired Pommy snoozes on a bean bag chair surrounded by unpopped kernels of popcorn.

Rukifellth sleeps on Lilith's lap.

And Lilith...

Lilith smiles.

It's been a wonderful day, she thinks. She'd expected the usual gift from Rukifellth (usually a blade of some sort; this year it was a dagger with a jeweled hilt with her initials engraved on the blade—not quite practical for mission purposes, but if she ever had to mutilate a particular someone it would certainly be useful), but she had no idea that him, Bomberman, and Pommy had conspired to throw her a birthday party. They'd also managed to rope in Zoniha and Baelfael into coming as well, since they were both on Bomber Star for different reasons, but Zoniha had to leave early for her work shift and Baelfael had to catch a flight to Primus Star for a scientific qualification test or other. Still, Lilith had appreciated the effort they'd all made for her, and she had enjoyed her birthday this year...much more than in a number of past birthdays.

B-O-M-B

_Three years ago..._

_Lilith blinks at the lovingly wrapped gift in Rukifellth's hands. "...what's that?"_

"_It's a birthday gift, of course!"_

"_Birthday gift...?"_

_Rukifellth blinks and fidgets. "Er...it **is** your birthday today, right?"_

_Lilith nods blankly._

_She stares at the gift a while longer, contemplating the meaning of its existence._

_Then:_

"_Oh, I see. You're offering a gift to the goddess Leustheria in order to ask for blessings on my behalf. Thank you." Lilith nods again and reaches for the gift._

_Rukifellth yanks it away in horror. "Nuh-uh!" he says. "I'm not giving this thing to any goddess but you, Lilith!"_

"_But..."_

"_Lilith, you're not with the Circle anymore," Rukifellth continues gently. "You don't have to abide by their silly rules now."_

_Lilith looks distressed. "B-but...birthdays are not meant to be spent in selfish indulgences," she stutters, the teachings of the aforementioned Circle already taking over her breaths. "More than ever, they are days when we must give thanks for being allowed to exist, so we offer Leustheria gifts to show gratitude."_

"_Right, that's all well and good, except that this goddess lets your gifts be taken from her by the snot-nosed weasels that run that broken circle of yours," Rukifellth remarks sarcastically. He quickly makes up an addendum to his statement after seeing the devastated look that has darkened Lilith's face. "Listen," he says, setting down the present on a nearby table, "even if Leustheria was a real goddess with the best of intentions, those who ran the Azurite Circle definitely weren't. You've got no obligation to their corrupt practices."_

_Lilith shakes her head. "You don't understand—"_

"_Here's what I **do **understand," Rukifellth says, cupping Lilith's face in his hands and forcing her to look at him. "It's that a goddess of a girl like yourself has gone for far too long without the worship and praise she so rightly deserves just because of the sticky fingers of a couple of greedy bastards who aren't worth the dust on the bottoms of their boots."_

_Lilith averts her gaze the best she can and doesn't answer him._

_Rukifellth inclines his head a little to kiss her on the mouth. _

_Startled, and slightly giddy from the warm sensation of the kiss, Lilith hugs Rukifellth and sighs._

"_I don't mind the idea of you giving thanks to someone for your existence," Rukifellth says quietly. "Hell, if I knew exactly who was responsible for your existence I'd thank that person up, down, and sideways in this galaxy with cherries on top. But I don't see why doing something like that should keep you from celebrating yourself as well. You're special and important enough to deserve a day to yourself, aren't you?"_

_Lilith bites her lip. "I...I don't know."_

_Rukifellth sighs. "Oy. Those jerks at the Circle did a number on you, didn't they?" He reaches for Lilith's present again. "Well, guess what, Miss Lilith? I think you're special and important enough to receive this. Now whose opinion do you care about, mine or a couple of fat cats you left behind way back when?"_

_Lilith gazes at the silvery wrapping of the gift. Her eyes trace the contours of the crinkles in the wrapping paper, and the slightly lopsided bow that Rukifellth tied to hold the paper in place._

_Hesitantly, she reaches for the present._

_It feels as heavy as a brick in her hand, though in actuality it's much lighter._

_She lifts it up for further inspection._

_Rukifellth nods. "Go on."_

_With a tug, she undoes the bow._

_The paper blooms like a shimmering lunar flower, revealing in its center a box containing a pair of thick platinum bracelets._

B-O-M-B

Lilith gazes down at the dreaming form of Rukifellth on her lap, peacefully oblivious to her stroll down Memory Lane.

She gently tucks a stray piece of aqua hair behind his ear, her platinum bracelet slipping slightly down her slender arm.

She contemplates some more.

She soaks in the moment of joy.

It's then that a song comes to her, welling up from deep within her like a spring.

And she begins to sing softly...

"_Strange how you know inside me  
I measure the time and I stand amazed  
Strange how I know inside you  
My hand is outstretched in the damp of the haze_

_And of course I forgive  
I've seen how you live  
Like a phoenix you rise from the ashes  
You pick up the pieces  
And the ghosts in the attic never quite leave  
And of course I forgive  
You've seen how I live  
I've got darkness and fears to appease  
My voices and analogies  
Ambitions like ribbons worn bright on my sleeve  
Strange how we know each other_

_Strange how I fit into you  
There's a distance erased with the greatest of ease  
Strange how you fit into me  
A gentle warmth filling the deepest of needs_

_And with each passing day  
The stories we say draw us tighter into our addiction  
Confirm our conviction  
That same kind of miracle passed on our heads  
And how I am sure like never before  
Of my reasons for defying reason  
Embracing the seasons  
We dance through the colors  
Both followed and led  
Strange how we fit each other_

_Strange how certain the journey  
Time unfolds the petals for our eyes to see  
Strange how this journey's hurting  
In ways we accept as part of fate's decree_

_So we just hold on fast  
Acknowledge the past as lessons exquisitely crafted  
Painstakingly drafted to carve us as instruments  
That play the music of life  
For we don't realize our faith in the prize  
Unless it's been somehow elusive  
How swiftly we choose it  
The sacred simplicity of you at my side..." _(4)

"Mmm..." Rukifellth stirs slightly. "Mommy, sing me a lullaby."

Lilith blinks. "Were you awake this whole time?" she asks, not sure whether to be flattered, embarrassed, angry, or all three.

Rukifellth rolls over a little to face Lilith. He grins. "How could I stay asleep when there was a divine voice like yours singing?"

"Oh, please. You wore out the goddess line a long time ago."

"Psh. Just because I might have worn it out on you doesn't mean I don't still think it's true."

Lilith blinks at him.

Rukifellth sits up and kisses Lilith on the cheek. "Hope you liked your gifts today," he says.

Lilith giggles and throws her arms around Rukifellth's neck, bringing him close. "I like this one the best of all," she whispers.

B-O-M-B

**Lyrics credits:**

**(1) "Feelings," by Albert Morris  
(2) "Boom Boom Boom Boom," by Vengaboys  
(3) "I'm a Slave 4 U," by Britney Spears  
(4) "Eric's Song," by Vienna Teng**


	7. All dressed up

O-O-O

_**All dressed up – chibi**_

O-O-O

"Hold still, will you? You're messing up your hair, and it took me forever to do those braids."

"I can't help it! This dress is so itchy. I'd like to murder whoever got the bright idea to invent sequins."

"Sorry, sweetie, but you're not going to be doing any murdering until this day is over."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, the bet and all."

"Hee."

"Bomberman's the worst sadist I know, seriously. You wouldn't think it from from that innocent little face of his, but _boy howdy_ that man knows how to humiliate. Making me wearing this dress, come with him to a party of over a thousand people, _and_ putting me on the auction block to rent me out as a date? You can't get any more nefarious than that! Do you think Sthertoth came back and possessed him?"

"Pfft, come off it, Ruk. You're just being paranoid. This is all in good fun! And the proceeds from the auction are going to charity. Besides, with me fixing you up, you'll be sure to fetch quite a high price for your looks!"

"...are you saying that I'm more feminine than you?"

"No, that's not—"

"Well, if I do say so myself, I probably _do_ look better in this dress than you ever would..."

_THWAP!_

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...I had that coming, didn't I?"

"No, you're right, you _do_ look better in that dress than I would. After all, I'm olive-complexioned—light blue doesn't fit well with me."

"I suppose that's true."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"There. That should be good. I'll give you a little mini hairspray bottle to put in your purse in case things get messed up again. But with the work I did on all that, it damn well better stay."

"Heh...thanks?"

"No problem. It's what I do. Now go out there and knock 'em dead, handsome."

"You mean 'beautiful'?"

"Yeah, that."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Hey...this dress doesn't make my butt look big, does it?"


	8. Flight

B-O-M-B

_**Flight – chibi**_

B-O-M-B

It's a disgustingly hideous day on the planet Palome. And by digustingly hideous, I mean that it's amazingly beautiful by normal people standards: sunny, clear skies coupled with a temperature that falls in a cheerful medium between winter suit weather and birthday suit weather. Admittedly, today the temperature is lounging out in a spot located _slightly_ on the former end of the spectrum, which is what has the native Palomians griping about the "wintry chill." Let me tell you, if this is their idea of the "wintry chill," I'm scared to find out what they mean by the "summer heat."

I'm out and about amongst the clouds in the Palomian winter chill, a hologram map floating in front of my combination protection/information visor. Some distance away from me, Rukifellth pilots a small custom ship with the words "Babecraft" painted in red on the side that's visible to me. Both of us are flying above Fjord del Fuego, the capital city of Palome, looking for a place to land. Upon request over the CosmicNet, we'd received information about a possible hidden treasure trove from an informant named "Naitori," who instructed us to meet him at the back of a particular cafe somewhere in Fjord del Fuego to gain the rest of the information. After a long dry streak of dead ends and insignificant finds on our own, we were desperate for (nearly) anything. You can't live on ramen and Pocky forever, after all...no matter what the otaku say.

My communicator earpiece static-fuzzes to life. "_You see any decent spots anywhere?_" comes Rukifellth's disgruntled voice.

I squint my eyes at the cityscape below me, then shake my head at Rukifellth. Fjord del Fuego features an extensive network of water canals and gondolas as its primary system of transportation, which renders any other type of transportation nearly obsolete for the local populace. While it's certainly a quaint attraction for tourists (and admittedly a breath of fresh air for myself), it makes things difficult for skygoers straight from the vacuum of space...or from transmodern metropolises.

"_Frickin' cro-magnons, I swear,_" Rukifellth grumbles. "_They need to get with the space program already. This is the capital city and they don't even have decent spaceship landing pads?_"

I roll my eyes. Rukifellth hails from planet Yretsym, which is the pit of urban decay to swallow up, digest, and defecate out all other pits of urban decay. Whatever faults it possesses (and there are many), Rukifellth loves his home and is fiercely proud of it and all it embodies—which is pretty much the epitome of highly urbanized, industrialized, and cyberpunkized society. Myself, well...the megamalls are definitely made of incredible awesome. Yretsym also has surprisingly good strip clubs. Just don't tell Rukifellth I ever said that. "You know, I _did_ point out that one landing tower not far from the Copper Rotunda," I said, referring to the main government building in the city.

"_Are you kidding me? That heap of rusted concrete isn't even worth feeding to the rabid crocogators! I'm not letting my ship anywhere near there—I paid too damn much for this thing and you and I both know we're in trouble with our finances!_"

I sigh and resist the urge to smack a palm to my forehead. "We've been at this for forty-five minutes already. Pick a spot and be done with it, or I'm going to park my butt down on a rooftop somewhere, because I'm getting _tired_."

"_If you're getting tired, why not come inside here for a while?_"

"And listen to you gripe and moan for the umpteenth time about why Fjord del Fuego should just fill their canals with concrete and import hovercars from Charmidion? Sorry, sweetie, I love you, but not _that_ much."

A pause. "_Are you still mad at me for standing you up last week to play World of Warcraft?_"

I'm not—I'd consoled myself within half an hour by eating a quart of caramel ice cream and then resuming my fifteenth playthrough of Tales of Symphonia. "Yes," I say.

There's an audible sigh. "_Okay, well, like...what if I take you out to dinner tonight here in Fjord del Fuego? Would that help my oh-so-disgraced persona in your eyes?_"

"Find a parking space first and then I'll consider it."

"_...so...uh...where did you say that parking tower was?_"

I was always amused that a little white lie could almost always get me a chance to wear a little black dress.


	9. Books

B-O-M-B

_**Books – realistic**_

B-O-M-B

I was always amused at people's reactions when they discovered that _I_ was the bookworm, instead of Lilith.

Not that I really blame them for that. Lilith carries herself with such a degree of poise and sophistication that next to her, I must seem like a total dunce. There is intelligence in how she walks and talks that somehow signals to those around her that she is a Really Smart Person. Which she is, you know. She's incredibly smart...as evidenced by the numerous times she's saved my sorry ass in planning for missions. She is, however, not a Really Smart Person by some people's standards of "smart." Such standards usually involve a long list of compensatory academic titles and degrees and prolific long-winded publications in highly esteemed literary journals—none of which Lilith has. Such standards are also, in my not-so-humble opinion, in desperate need of a good long fuck to loosen them up _just_ a little.

At any rate, I am indeed a bookworm (or a bookmaggot, depending on who you ask). The current residence that Lilith and I share on Yretsym holds a—if I may be allowed to boast about myself a bit—pretty damn impressive library of books both new and old. Besides acquiring the list of accepted "must-reads" among the literary critics of the Thalian Empire, I also try to pick up one or two (or ten?) interesting-looking books whenever I visit another planet. Let me just admit straight out, thought, that I haven't actually read everything that's in my library (contrary to what I've told Lilith). But everything I currently own was definitely purchased with the _intent_ of reading it eventually, so that's gotta count for something, right?

It was a relief to be back home among my lovely little tomes after a particularly hair-tearing raid on a corporate space shuttle that nearly cost me and Lilith our lives, but which eventually scored us at least three hundred thousand galactic gold. Talk about great timing: I'd just learned from one of my mailing lists that a collection of books centering around the history of Midragar was coming out in a special hardcover set that was going to cost me a couple of sexy pennies if I wanted to get my hands on it. With my share of the raid pickings, though, I'd be able to snag that set _and_ still have a fair amount of cash left over to waste on other things—preferably things that had a front cover, a back cover, and lots of text in-between. So I was currently looking over the shelves of my library, reminding myself of what I had and what I wanted. Yeah, I had a custom computer database for things like that, but I just liked looking at my books. Don't look at me like that—why are you looking at me like that?

"Should I even ask what you're going to spend your share of the money on?"

I smirked over my shoulder at Lilith, who had seated herself at a large metal table that was heaped high with books I'd been looking at a couple of weeks ago, but had been too lazy to put back. I noticed she'd tucked away some of her bangs with a small rhinestone barrette. I found it endearing, but that was no surprise—I found nearly everything about her endearing in some way, shape, or form. "You shouldn't," I said, "but it would stroke my ego if you did."

Lilith rolled her eyes. "Your ego's large enough without me feeding you verbal Viagra."

I plucked a folded catalog from a shelf and headed over to sit by Lilith. "Well, since you are ever the curious little kitty, let me show you an answer to your question," I said, flipping to a dog-eared page and then holding it out.

Lilith took the catalog and read the page over. "The brand-new hardcover set of Lysator Wells' A History of Midraghi Culture?"

"Yep. First time it's being offered as a hardcover set—and it's even got an additional volume of supplementary reading material!" I laughed. "Of course, that's not all I'm going to be getting, since we hit a pretty good jackpot with that raid on the Seven United freighter."

A corner of Lilith's mouth pursed in confusion. "But that's already an eight-book set, and it costs a lot..."

"Pfft, that's just the condensed version. Plus, Wells is a good guy to go to for an overview, but everyone knows that he has this ridiculous bias when it comes to the Valkryjans, so you have to look elsewhere for information on those guys...or girls."

"Oh. I see."

Uh-oh. Her voice held that foreboding flat tone that she used whenever she was unhappy about something and waiting for me to notice. "Something the matter?" I asked, looking up at her.

Lilith sat quietly, her lips a thin line of passive-aggressiveness. She shook her head. "N-no, it's just...it's nothing."

Which, of course, meant it was something. A really big honkin' something. But I'd since learned (the hard way, of course) that in situations like these, it was best to simply pretend to be oblivious to her plight...no matter how much it broke my heart. "Oh, sorry," I said, turning back to the page I was on. "I guess I must be boring you by talking about all this historical stuff that you don't care for."

"What makes you think that I don't care for it?"

I sat up straighter, startled by the slight defensiveness in her tone...or was it a challenge? "Well, you never seemed interested in it before," I began, raising an eyebrow, "what with falling asleep the first time I tried relating the establishment of the city of Doth'ran to you."

"That was only because I took my allergy meds an hour before."

"What about the second time? You were down and out within a minute."

"I just came home from work! You can hardly blame me."

I sighed. "Have you taken any sleepyhead-inducing drugs within the past few hours?"

"No."

"Are you, in any manner fathomable, wanting to go upstairs to our bed and burrow under the covers?"

"Not really."

"All right, then. Establishment of the city of Doth'ran—want me to take it from the top?"

"Sure."

So I did.

B-O-M-B

Ten minutes later...

I casually glanced up from the third volume of We Stood Our Ground, from which I was reading a very impassioned account of the aforementioned city-formation-thing. "Lilith, you're not listening to me."

"Of course I am!" Lilith protested, the daze swiftly melting off her eyes.

"What was I just talking about, then?"

A moment of silence as Lilith's vocal cords fought to string together a coherent sentence. "General Sigawa-something-or-other went to...Fort Teng...to negotiate...something."

"That was three pages ago, and it was General Tak'mi who traveled to Fort Teng with two of his trusted admirals—one of whom would eventually betray him—to demand the surrender of the Loxian army, which at that time outnumbered the Ruti army at least three to one."

Lilith slunk back ever so slightly in her chair. "I got part of it right, didn't I?"

"Well, you would have if I was asking about what happened three pages ago." I slid a bookmark into the book and set it on the table. "Look, I appreciate you trying to share my interests and all, but if this stuff bores you to tears, it's fine by me. I'm not offended or upset with you for it, I promise."

Lilith didn't look convinced. "It's not that..."

"Then what is it?"

A silence.

Then a sigh—from the both of us.

"I just think," Lilith began, "that maybe I should learn about this stuff. It sounds...important."

I mulled this over. "Well, yeah, history is important. You can learn a lot from it." I tapped a few fingers on the leather cover of We Stood Our Ground. "But most of time, you just need the bare basics. Something like learning about Doth'ran in as much detail as I've been relating to you is heavy-duty historical shit that would instantly dozify about ninety-five percent of the general population." I raised an eyebrow at her again. "Which would definitely include people from your walk of life."

Lilith blinked at me. "From...my...walk...of life?" she repeated tightly.

Shit. I'd pissed her off. But how? "Th-that is," I hurriedly continued, "from the more rural areas of the Thalian Empire. They don't prioritize the same kind of academia as most of Yretsym does, or maybe they don't even prioritize academia at all. History and literature aren't really their type of thing, you know? You came from there—you shouldn't feel bad that you don't have an interest in this."

"Are you saying that I'm too stupid to understand your 'academia'?" Her voice was sharp.

"Wh-what?" I stared at her, completely caught off guard. "_No!_ That's not—"

_Oh, __**fuck.**_

And it dawned on me.

"Shit..." I muttered. "You don't mean to tell me that you _still_ think you're less intelligent than I am just because you're not into this stuff?"

Lilith crossed her arms. "Oh, what, does the fact that I came from Hickvilletown mean that I'm not allowed to feel inferior to you or something?"

"That's not what I'm saying and you know it!" I snapped, slamming my hand on the table and leaning forward, cause Lilith to draw back. "Dammit, Lilith, we've been over this before! It's not what you know—it's how you use what you know! And you use what you know pretty damn well. I don't find you stupid at all, and if anyone else says that you are, they can go to the Spiked Fire Pits of Kanatia for a permanent vacation. Seriously, Lilith, you're pretty damn smart, especially for someone with your background."

"'_Especially for someone of my background?'_"

Funny how in arguments, it's always the things you never want to hear again that you end up hearing more than once. "That's not what I—"

_SMACK!_

It was already a hard slap to begin with, but Lilith's demonic blood mixed with her anger allowed her to send me sailing off my chair and into the side of a bookcase with enough force to rattle a couple of books off the shelves. "Fuck you, Kourichi," she spat. "Clearly my backwater ways won't ever be good enough for you." And before I could say anything, she sprinted off and phased out of the room through the opposite wall.

I pursed my lips and closed my eyes as I leaned against the bookcase. I thwacked my head against it once, twice, three times out of sheer frustration. A few more books toppled to their doom, landing in a sorry little pile nearby, covers splayed and pages crumpled.

If there was any book that I'd _never_ be able to read, it'd be the Book of Lilith.


	10. I'll protect you

B-O-M-B

_**I'll protect you - realistic**_

B-O-M-B

Every word that the demon god had spoken was true.

Rukifellth couldn't hear her words anymore; he was forever lost in the shadows of Sthertoth's mind.

Her side no longer had the power of the legendary Elemental Stones; they had lost them when Sthertoth banished the goddess Mihaele to eternal darkness.

Sthertoth would destroy the entire Warship Noah and everyone with it; he was, after all, the master of destruction.

Despite the vast futility of any sort of resistance, Lilith had turned her back on her last bare chance of material salvation—escaping the Noah on Bomberman and Pommy's borrowed spaceship—in order to return to Rukifellth.

_I can't just leave him!_

Now she stood before a surprised but amused Sthertoth in the decimated bridge of the Noah. He stood a good five feet taller than her in his god form, with abyssmal black eyes and sharp ram's horns. "Oho, what's this?" he cackled. "Has the warrior princess come to save her charming prince?"

"If you wish to put it that way," Lilith answered, readying her two laser pistols in her hands. "I imagine you're just jealous because you've got no princess to save you from hell. After all, you kind of kicked her into the endless abyss."

Sthertoth only laughed again. "I'll destroy you, my little pretty," he roared, "and your little universe too!"

As Lilith nimbly dodged the powerful energy beams Sthertoth fired her way, she knew, without a single doubt in her mind, that she was going to die.

But at least that way, she could protect Rukifellth in the afterlife...


	11. What you say, what you mean

B-O-M-B

_**What you say, what you mean – chibi**_

B-O-M-B

"Ruk, I want a baby."

Rukifellth blinked up at Lilith from watching the TV. "I thought you said you weren't ready to sleep with me yet."

"I'm not." Lilith plopped down next to him on the couch. "But I want a baby anyway."

Rukifellth smirked and kissed Lilith. "Well, let's make one now."

"Only if _you_ carry it."

"Sure, I'll carry it—after you give birth to it."

_­THWAP!_

"Oww!"

Thirty minutes later, Lilith was still doubled over in a gigglefit.

B-O-M-B

_**(Thanks to my friend Shanni and her boytoy for this one.)**_


	12. Replies

B-O-M-B

_**Replies – chibi**_

B-O-M-B

Lilith is denying why she cares so much about getting an answer to a silly little e-mail.

In the Azurite Circle, it is practically a sin to want something for oneself. Everything is done for the benefit of the Circle or, barring that, for the benefit of someone else at the very least.

This is for his benefit, she chants to herself as she suits up for another errand. It would be for _his_ benefit, because only _he_ would get any enjoyment out of the arrangement that he had coerced (coerced? Was that the right word?) her into. _She_ certainly would not enjoy things at all. Thus, agreeing upon his terms was for his benefit only. His benefit always.

_…always?! _

Lilith feels herself getting flustered as she attempts to run a brush through her long tangled hair. She tries to sweep the thick locks into something resembling a ponytail, but she is too plagued by jitters to accomplish anything in that vein.

The Azurite Circle teaches that the rule of mortal existence is impermanence. Everything is but a fleeting sliver of a nanosecond in the cosmic clock. Nothing lasts beyond the mortal coil; no greater meaning defines it. But in that lack of meaning, there is freedom: freedom to not be bound by what others consider unbreakable laws, and thus freedom to live as one pleases.

Within the teachings of the Circle, that is.

This contradiction does not register yet in Lilith's girlish mind. She only knows that, by Circle philosophy, "always" is a moot concept, one not worth even considering. "For life" seems pointless as well, considering how unimportant a single mortal life truly was.

Well, how unimportant _her_ single mortal life was, anyway.

The voice of the Mother comes over the room intercom. "Lilith. Are you ready, my child?"

"N-no," Lilith stammers. Her body bends itself in the usual genuflection of respect, even though there's no one—not even a camera—to see her. "But I am close to it, dearest Mother. I shall be down in five minutes."

"Five minutes and no more, or you shall spend the night in the master bedroom."

The master bedroom: a euphemism for the dungeons deep in the caverns below the main complex of the Circle's convent. "With your blessing, Mother," Lilith responds.

The intercom crackles off.

Lilith settles for twining her hair into a long braid that she then curls up into a bun at the nape of her neck, securing it into place with a couple of brown hairpins. She risks a glance at the computer terminal in the corner of the room, then scowls and turns her back on it. She must not delay her Circle sisters in today's errand, or they will _all_ be sent to the master bedroom, and she will earn the ire of her sisters. Temporary as the sentiment might be…she refuses to bear the sharp lash of guilt again. Surely a sister of the Circle could want that much for herself, at least.

With determined, proud steps, Lilith enters a teleportation pad and is whisked away in a curtain of light, painfully punctual as is expected of a member of the Azurite Circle.

But had she stayed three seconds longer, she would have heard the chime from the computer terminal indicating that there was now a fresh new e-mail in her inbox.

And she would have instantly rushed to the terminal and frantically clicked on the appropriate links to reveal this divine message to her.

And her chocolate brown eyes—wide and shining and eager—would have read:

_"I hate you too, Lilith. _

_I hate you so much, in fact, that I challenge you to a **romantic date** at **Emilano's** (they've got the best pasta and cheese bread, seriously) in **downtown Sasarai** at **7:00pm** local time on **Thursday night**. _

_We shall settle things there, most hated enemy of mine! _

_Your antagonist forever,  
__-R." _


	13. Shopping

B-O-M-B

_**Shopping – realistic**_

B-O-M-B

Lilith raised an eyebrow at the scene in front of her, then sighed in exasperation. "I swear to Leustheria, Ruk," she said, crossing her arms, "you shop like a girl."

The Scourge of the Spaceways had been re-watching an episode of _La Femme Nikita_ in her room when the front doorbell had rung. She flew downstairs—literally—to find Rukifellth practically wheelbarrowing a stack of colorful shopping bags into the mansion foyer. One bag at the top in bright yellow had even toppled to the ground and burst into a flurry of the latest men's fashions, the poor thing.

"Oh, come on, you can't begrudge an aristocrat his threads!" Rukifellth insisted. "Image is very important in my circles, you know. Now will you help me with these things or not? Take some of the stuff upstairs while I get the second dolly cart."

Lilith did a double-take. "Wait a second—_you have more_?"

But Rukifellth had already disappeared out the front door, humming.

Lilith rolled her eyes as she headed over to a file cabinet. She'd never quite understood the man's fascination with fashion and clothes, though Leustheria knew she'd tried. Oh, sure, she had enjoyed going out with Zhael and Zoniha to shopping malls to model women's clothes and to look at all the shiny accessories, and she'd be lying if she said she didn't enjoy her fair share of shopping splurges for stylish apparel. But for Lilith, the activity was ultimately something done with friends. Like drinking, for instance.

Rukifellth was a different story. If he loved books and reading, well, he positively lusted after fashion, and would probably ravish it quite violently if fashion happened to be a real person. All sorts of high-end fashion magazines filled his room and his library, piled high to the ceiling. Thousands of hard-stolen money went towards picking up the newest additions to various designer brands. He attended fashion shows whenever he could, and he was even starting to design his own line of clothes for men and for women that he wanted to present on the runway soon. Needless to say, Lilith was drafted as his model for the female line, a role which Lilith had accepted with a "boys will be boys" sort of attitude. She had to admit that he came up with some really awesome stuff, though.

"Look, I'm not going to begrudge you your strange habits," Lilith said when Rukifellth had returned with a second haul of shopping bags even more numerous than the first batch. She had not moved a single bag yet. "I've long since chalked it up to something that someone of my humble standing can't possibly understand. But you're going to run out of closet space soon, and besides, seventy-five percent of what you buy barely gets worn for two months before you decide it's 'out of fashion'."

"The fashion world is a fickle one," Rukifellth lamented, "but alas, it is the way and the truth."

"The way and the truth is, you're going to need to cut down on your spending now, because we're running low on the dough." Lilith brandished a stapled packet of various receipts, forms, and bank statements. "Of all people, I would think that _you_ would know best how much monetary juice it takes to run a grand estate like Eden." Eden was the name of the estate that Lilith and Rukifellth were currently co-habiting.

"Precisely! And that is why I can safely spend what I want without worrying about costs, because I know best how much wiggle room we have." Rukifellth winked at Lilith. "And we have a lot of wiggle room, my dear."

Lilith's next words were like gunshots in the heart. "Rukifellth St. Juno Alriscone Kourichi, we are_ broke_."

A stunned silence. Rukifellth grabbed the packet from Lilith and flipped frantically through it. "Ahahaha..." He grinned sheepishly. "I guess we are."

B-O-M-B

"Do we _have_ to sell all this?" Rukifellth asked forlornly, staring at the mountains of clothes dotting the landscrape of his bedroom, courtesy of Lilith's swift hands. He was sitting on a black denim beanbag chair.

"You yourself said these things were out of style." Lilith yanked a shirt off a hanger and tossed it away. "I don't get what the problem is."

"I need tangible references for the changes in trends over time! Besides, when I'm old and crusty, I can sell the collection to a museum for a hefty price and preserve the wonder for all eternity, and get a comfortable retirement fund in the process."

"Can't you just use the Interweb like normal people—" Lilith blinked. She pulled out a pair of yellow plaid pants. "Holy hell, this is U-G-L-Y-you-ain't-got-no-alibi _ugly._" She took it off the hanger, then unfolded it and held it to her waist. The orange-trimmed ends trailed to the carpet.

Rukifellth snickered. "Thinking of getting into my pants?"

Lilith hurled them at Rukifellth. "Not when they're that hideous!"

After ten more minutes, Lilith decided that she needed a break from wading through the forest known as Rukifellth's walk-in clothes closet. Given the size of the thing, Lilith thought that it could very well be a "drive-in" closet instead, with room enough to accomodate four hovercars. "You know," she said, reclining on a pile of clothes, "it would be _really_ nice if you could lend a hand or two. These are your babies, after all."

"Ah, but you're the one who wants to sell them," Rukifellth responded smugly. "Therefore, you have to be the one to do the work."

Lilith suddenly got up with a secret smile. She disappeared into the closet again.

Rukifellth did a double-take. "L-Lilith?"

Moments later, Lilith re-emerged wearing a formal suit of dark turquoise, a cream-colored ruffled shirt, an ivory brooch of a stylized crocogator, a number of jeweled rings, and a wide-brimmed hat the same color as the suit. "Hello, inferior peons," she said in an exaggeratedly male aristocratic accent. "My name is Rukifellth Kourichi of the House of Alriscone, and I am _far_ too _fashionable_ to be doing something as mundane as cleaning out my closet!"

Rukifellth turned bright red. "H-hey! That's not funny!" he said, jumping to his feet.

Lilith continued her charade. "On the _fashionable_ contrary, my good man," she replied, "it is, insofar as much as I may infer from the odd expression on your face and the rosy tint to your cheeks, quite _fashionably_ hilarious, if my noble—and _fashionable!_—personage may say so, myself."

Rukifellth crossed his arms and glared. "This is totally unfair, seeing as I can't make fun of you for _your_ country mannerisms when you're just going to get offended over class boundaries and whatnot."

Lilith smirked and took off the hat. "You don't even know what the country mannerisms are," she said, spinning the hat between her hands. "And you've tried the accent before, and quite frankly...you're horrible at it."

Rukifellth sighed. "I can't win with you, can I?"

"Aha! He finally understands!" Lilith tossed the hat at Rukifellth.

Rukifellth caught it. "No, the point is that I _don't_ understand at all," he said, setting the hat on the bed and walking over to Lilith to take her in his arms. "After knowing you all this time, I still don't understand you."

Lilith laughed and hugged him. "What don't you understand about me?" she asked coyly.

"Well...why are you still with me if I'm always so insensitive about your background?"

Lilith took a moment to think. "For one, you're not malicious about it," she said finally. "Most of it just comes out of ignorance, and you've always been willing to listen to me explain why I'm offended. After I've found my temper, that is."

"But then why don't you go out someone from your background?" Rukifellth asked. "Someone who'd immediately understand? Don't get me wrong," he added hurriedly. "It's not like I'm saying you should only be with someone of your own background or class or whatever or anything like that. I'm just...curious as to why you'd put up with someone so different from you."

A pause. "I...never really thought about it."

"...really?"

Lilith reached up and tapped Rukifellth on the nose. "You have to realize that by the time I was of an age to start really worrying about that sort of thing, I was already caught in the Azurite Circle. And the Circle was my life."

"Until I abducted you."

"Until you abducted me."

"So I'm your first?"

"And only," Lilith finished, kissing him.

"But...didn't you ever want to...you know...'shop around' a bit and see who else might be out there?"

"What? No way!" Lilith smirked up at him. "Forgive me for the hideous metaphor, but you've always been 'in fashion' for me, and I'm not just talking about your clothes. You're like...what's that thing that everyone talks about all the time? The little black dress, right? That's what you are to me."

Rukifellth burst out laughing, clutching Lilith tightly to him. "And just like the little black dress," he said in between laughs, "you're going to wear me out through the years."

"Does that bother you?"

"Not a damn bit."

B-O-M-B

**To whom it may concern: **

**For various reasons, I have replaced the original text of chapter ten with something entirely different (and way shorter!). Check it out if you're so inclined.**

**-Sora G. Silverwind**  
_**I'm head of the board, now I'm bored of her head**_


	14. Kitchen

B-O-M-B

_**Kitchen – chibi**_

B-O-M-B

It's the morning after Lilith's surprise birthday party. Though Bomberman had managed to cater quite lavishly for a party of six, Lilith finds herself lusting after something more...earthy...than tortilla chips and ice cream cake.

With a tranquil sort of grogginess, Lilith shuffles into Bomberman's kitchen and flicks the light switch on. The bright flourescent bulbs from the ceiling coolly illuminate a humble but stylish setup. She and Rukifellth have crashed at Bomberman's house a number of times before, so she feels right at home poking about in the fridge and the cabinets to assess the culinary situation. Lilith moves as quietly as possible so as not to disturb the other three currently sleeping in the family room. She succeeds in digging out the appropriate utensils and ingredients before scaring the hell out of Rukifellth.

"For the love of the Angel!" Rukifellth cries. He's half-poised to strike at the top of the stairs leading up from the family room, an icing-covered plastic knife in his hand. "Do you have to be so dang quiet all the time? I swear, sometimes I wonder if you even _exist!"_

Lilith merely smiles as she puts a carton of eggs back into the fridge. "You're saying that I'm just a figment of your imagination?"

Rukifellth smirks. "Sometimes I wonder. Though I do figure that you're too good to have come from _my_ imagination."

"You flatter me way too often."

Rukifellth comes up and hugs Lilith from behind. "On the contrary," he whispers into her ear, "I feel as though I don't flatter you often enough."

Lilith blushes slightly. "Okay, l-look, I've grown used to you jumping me from behind, but could you please not do it now? I have a knife in my hand."

"So do I."

"Mine is stainless steel."

"Point taken," Rukifellth says, and he steps away, but not without kissing the side of Lilith's neck first. He tosses the plastic knife into a nearby garbage can. "What are you making, anyway?"

"French toast."

Rukifellth makes a sound in his throat that sounds like the mongrel spawn of a choke, a demon's death scream, and two garbage disposals arguing with each other.

Lilith gives him a weird look as she sticks a skillet on the stovetop and fires the burner. "Are you all right?"

He shudders and passes a hand over his face. "Sorry. I just somehow feel like I should have a bad memory about French toast."

"How so?"

'"Not entirely sure. I think it involves frozen fries, toasters smoking in ovens, and you and Bomberman handcuffed together."

Lilith blinks. "If ever there was a time to be scared of your imagination," she says slowly, going back to her cooking, "I think it would be now."

"Yeah, I'd say so too." Rukifellth drags out a gallon of milk from the fridge.

She eyes him warily. "...you're not thinking of drinking straight from that, are you?"

Rukifellth looks offended. "What? As if! I'm a refined member of the Yretsymian aristocracy—no way would I ever think of indulging myself in such a barbaric action!" He goes to borrow a glass from a cabinet. "What in the galaxy gave you an idea like that, anyway?"

Lilith gazes thoughtfully at the bread slices simmering softly in the skillet in front of her. "I...don't know," she admitted, poking at one of the slices with a spatula. "Past-life memory?"

He nearly spills the milk on the counter as he's pouring it into the glass. "I wasn't aware you believed in that sort of thing."

Lilith shakes her head. "Forget it. Maybe there was a hiccup in the universe's CPU, or someone up there is having a little too much fun, or something. Go wake up Bomberman and see if he wants anything for breakfast."

"Are you kidding me? The man's a walking Hiroshima—even when he's sleeping! And he probably has post-traumatic stress disorder from all the work that he does being heroic and jazz. Like hell I'm going to wake him up when all I'm going to get for my efforts is a bomb to the face! 'Sides," he adds somewhat sulkily, going to the kitchen table and plopping himself down in a chair, "why do _you_ have to cook _him_ breakfast?"

"It's no big deal. I'm no stranger to hard work, unlike _someone else_ I know. And it's the least I can do to repay him for throwing that birthday party for me."

"Oh, and what am I—ground crocogator?"

Lilith turns around to glare at him. "I'm cooking you your breakfast right now, so I wouldn't complain if I were you or I'll stick a guillotine in your French toast. Unless there's something else you'd rather eat?"

"Yes. You." Rukifellth only pouts as the bread knife zips past him an inch from his head, embedding itself into the wall behind him. "It was a compliment! What are you getting so testy for?"

Lilith sighs. "Fine. If you're not going to wake up Bomberman, go to the bathroom and carve up your face or whatever it is you do in the bathroom in the morning. _I'll_ wake him up when I'm done with this batch of toast."

Now Rukifellth looks positively horrified. "What do you mean, _'wake him up'?_" he demands. "What's that supposed to mean?"

It takes about three seconds for the reason behind Rukifellth's annoyance to sink into Lilith's mind. "...oh, by Mihaele's dreadlocks!" she exclaims, throwing up her hands. "Who do you think I am, Zoniha? I wouldn't do something like—"

"Pah! Forget it!" Rukifellth loftily waves her off. "Attend to your little domestic duties or whatever! _I'll_ go check on Bomberman!" And he stomps downstairs to the family room.

Lilith rolls her eyes. "Boys will be boys," she murmurs, slipping the cooked toast onto a plate and tossing two new slices onto the skillet.

The startled explosion from downstairs approximately two seconds later knocks over Rukifellth's abandoned glass of milk on the kitchen table.

"And I suppose bombers will be bombers," Lilith adds to herself, humming amusedly again.


	15. Trees

B-O-M-B

_**Trees – realistic**_

B-O-M-B

Within the twisting concrete passages of an underground complex, Lilith cuts a dark figure in the bright white lights as she sprints at top speed, clad in her midnight blue cybernetic catsuit. She clutches a medium-sized metal cylinder tightly to her chest as she stops at an intersection and looks around her, simultaneously checking her surroundings and figuring out where she should go.

_Damn him!_ she grumbles, deciding to take the path northwest of her. _Why does he have to be __**here**__ of all places?_

Lilith is on the run from a young man that had caught her just as she thought she was home free. She doesn't know much about him except his physical appearance – a swordfighter, a head taller than her, dressed in black, long aqua hair pulled back into a low ponytail in the aristocratic style, and an irisdescent blue visor hiding his eyes - and the fact that he speaks the common dialect with a highborn accent. She remembers him as being more persistent than most others who catch her in the midst of her work, persistent in a way that might almost be cutely adolescent if it didn't always come at a time when she was rushing to make sure she succeeded in the crazy errands given to her from the Azurite Circle. As it is, she's finding him one of the most irritating persons she's ever known in her life...despite the fact that this is only the third time she's met him.

She suddenly stops in her tracks; she's reached a glaring dead end.

"Damn!" Lilith swears out loud. She can hear her pursuer gaining on her, his footsteps echoing against the walls. She's going to have to physically confront him if she wants to get out of here with the goods in hand. What a pain – she still hasn't recovered from a botched job last week that put her out for two days in the medical wing of headquarters, so she's far from being in top shape. Plus, she's just been in an overall bad mood lately. She sets the cylinder down on the floor and pulls out her laser pistol from a thigh holster, checking how much she has left to go before she has to recharge with another plasma cartridge.

The young man stands a fair distance away from her now. His face is flushed slightly from the fact that he's been chasing her for about the past ten minutes, but he's smiling brightly at her. She wants to rip that smile off his face.

"That's a fair amount of effort you're putting into stealing a poor innocent bonsai tree," he says, amused.

The sunamango tree from planet Midragar is hardly innocent, considering that its luscious-looking crimson fruits contain an acidic poison that can kill with two drops (though interestingly enough, the pits are harmless and tasty if prepared correctly). The Midraghi government has tried to eliminate all known species of this particular tree, fearing accidental deaths as well as deliberate misuse. The Azurite Circle recently discovered a scientific facility that housed a tiny specimen of the deadly tree, and – interested in its poisonous properties – sent Lilith to fetch it.

"It's no business of yours," Lilith snaps, holding out her pistol. She'd prefer to use her energy knives, but at her current strength it would drain her faster than she'd like. "Get out of my way if you don't want to die."

He draws his sword from the sheath on his back, a long crystalline rapier that sparkles in the bright lights of the concrete passageway. "Won't be dying for a while yet," he says, holding the sword out in a defensive position. "I still have to find out whether you prefer top or bottom." He grins wider. "Unless you're willing to tell me right now and let me die happy?"

Lilith scowls. "Didn't anyone ever tell you not to bring a knife to a gunfight?" She fires off a round, but they all miss wide as the young man springs into action, moving faster than she would have expected from him. She's surprised again when he deflects some of her next shots with smooth, swift flicks of his sword, simultaneously closing the distance between them as he does so. Slightly panicked, Lilith takes short flight, springboarding off the nearest wall and firing continuously as she somersaults through the air. The young man swivels and steps, dodging another round of fire. He swings his sword. Lilith backsteps in time, but seconds later she finds the tip of his sword dangerously close to her bare throat. She glares up the glittering blade at its wielder.

"Checkmate," he says cheerfully.

Lilith drops her gaze, utterly frustrated. If only she'd been in top condition, or even slightly better condition than she was now, she could have taken him out without any problems! She thought briefly about faking defeat to get him to drop his guard, but then remembered that she'd used that same tactic the first time she'd met him. He was annoying, but he didn't seem stupid, and his reflexes were quick as hell – quicker than hers at the moment. "Fine, you got me," she muttered, lowering her gun arm. "Take the sunamango tree and get the hell out of my sight."

"Oh, I don't care about that," the young man says, still smiling. "It's _you_ I want."

Lilith freezes. She suddenly feels very sick to her stomach. Shit, she hadn't expected _that_. Not from him. _Just goes to show you can't trust anyone in this world._ With her heart pounding in her chest and her mind in shambles, Lilith considers the possibility of at least fighting to her very last breath before letting herself be humiliated by him. No, maybe she should just conserve her strength so that she could track him down and kill him later. If he doesn't kill her when he finishes having his way with her.

Her shoulders droop. What does it matter whether she lives or dies, though? Maybe she'd be better off dead anyway. Lilith used to be one of the best members of the Circle's team of field agents, but she's been lousy in her work the past few months and she doesn't know why. And there's no one that would particularly miss her. Maybe Selena at the cafe would be sad, but at least Selena has a life without her. She'd get over it. Lilith has general friendly acquaintances in the Circle, but Circle members die or disappear on a regular basis. And you really can't get close to anyone in the Circle, because you can never truly know if that person will turn on you when you most need help. The Circle discourages close relations among its members as well, a combination of dogmatic teachings and cold practicality.

And so it is that Lilith now finds herself painfully alone. Alone in the underground vault of a laboratory, alone in the Azurite Circle...alone in the entire Thalian Empire.

"Do what you want," she says quietly, closing her eyes. "I don't care."

There's a few seconds of tense silence, followed by the sheathing of a sword. Lilith feels the heat of his body as he steps in front of her. She waits for her doom.

The young man wraps his arms around her shoulders and pulls her close to him.

Lilith blinks, finding her vision filled with the black of his soft shirt. She's startled by the tenderness of the gesture. True, it's more intimate than she'd like, but she's not sensing anything remotely threatening or lecherous in it. In fact...it's actually a little comforting. _No!_ she chides herself, horrified. _Don't let your guard down! _But she can't remember the last time anyone hugged her like this. The last time she had been technically hugged was probably a few years ago, she realizes, and it was when the Mother first welcomed her into the Circle. The embrace had been cold and distant.

"For someone so strong, you're so delicate and small," he says softly, resting his chin on her head.

"What's it to you?" Lilith asks, fighting the urge to just give in and lean into the embrace.

"I think it's cute." He caresses the back of her head, and runs his hand once through her scarlet hair. "What's your name?"

"Lilith," she responds before she can check herself and give a false name.

"Is that so?" He releases her and steps back. He pulls off his visor, and Lilith stares up into a pair of eyes colored like the sky on a clear sunny day, set in a handsome face. "Nice to meet you, Lilith. I'm Rukifellth. Sometimes called 'Ruk', occasionally called 'crazy bastard,' frequently called in the middle of reading time, which pisses me off like you wouldn't believe. If you want my full name so you can look up my official stats, it's Esandrian Lord Rukifellth St. Juno Alriscone Kourichi." He laughs. "Or, you know, you can just stick 'Rukifellth' into a CosmoNet search engine and see what comes up. I've done that before – you can get some pretty wacky results."

She frowns, caught off guard by the turn this situation has taken. _An Esandrian Lord? He's from one of the highest levels of the aristocracy on Yretsym! Why the hell is someone like him involved in this kind of work?_ "What's your deal?" she demands. "You just gave me enough information to hunt you down and rip out your guts so I could strangle you with them in your sleep."

Rukifellth turns out his hands in a peaceful manner. "I'm showing I have nothing to hide. That you can trust me if you want to. Or, you know, kill me if you're so inclined."

Lilith snorts disbelievingly and crosses her arms. Inside, she can't help but be intrigued.

"Well, I don't know about you, but all that running and fighting has made me hungry as hell," Rukifellth says. "I'm going to go get something to eat." He extends a hand. "You want to come with?"

"Um..." Lilith bites her lip. "I have to go back to the Circle. Sorry." She grimaces when she realizes she's just seriously considered his offer. _Idiot! What's wrong with you, thinking about going out with some random pretty boy when you're on a job?_

"Oh, yeah, that's right." Rukifellth shrugs carelessly and turns to walk away. "Another time, maybe. Martel willing, I'll see you again." He waves. "Later!"

She blinks again. "But...but what about the sunamango tree? Aren't you going to take it?"

He throws her a bright smile over his shoulder. "I told you, I don't care about that. I only wanted to talk to you."

Lilith watches him go, gazing down the corridor long after he's disappeared around a corner. She doesn't exactly know what it is she's feeling in her heart right now. It's something that's sweet in how much it hurts, something that makes her want to laugh and cry at the same time. Something that makes her want to see Rukifellth again, and wonders at how long it'll be before she does.

She starts off down the corridor, repeating his name in her mind like a prayer. She wants to remember it so that she can do just as he suggested and look him up. Normally the Circle discourages any sort of foray into the outside world that doesn't involve being on a mission, but Lilith has a ready excuse to give to a Circle elder if asked why she needs to use the main computers. This man is after me, she will say. I need to know more about him so that I can _(seehimagain) _destroy him.

Behind her, the sunamango tree lies forgotten in its little cylindrical coffin.


	16. Beautiful

B-O-M-B

_**Beautiful – chibi**_

B-O-M-B

"You did _what?_" Mujoe exclaimed, startling the other three patrons of Bar Touko – who were all his top three Hige Hige Bandits.

Rukifellth raised an eyebrow calmly at his friend as he took another sip from a cocktail glass. "I asked Lilith to meet me here so we could take a night off on the town. What's so wrong about that?"

"But what the _heck_ are you thinking, courting the 'Scourge of the Spaceways' of all people? She's only assassinated at least three major government officials on each planet in the empire – that's _eighteen_ in all, get that? – tortured half of the Thalian underground for intelligence secrets, stolen over seven million galactic gold in valuable treasures and currency, and destroyed at least five imperial battle cruisers! And she's seven feet tall with four crimson eyes and black skin and a shark tail and a head full of snakes!"

"Okay, first off, I don't know where the hell you got that physical description of her, because Lilith is the cutest little redhead that you ever did see. Secondly, all those other claims are totally exaggerated, and I know because I asked her myself. Yeah, she's offed a secret mafia kingpin here and swiped a couple of trinkets there, but I've done that myself – it's hardly anything to shake a chain at in this line of work. She's not as scourgetastic as the government would have you believe." Rukifellth thought this over a moment. "Well, okay, she could kick both of our asses in a fair fight in less than three minutes and still be able to make turtleduck meat out of one of Archaia's eight-headed dragons. But really, she's a very nice girl once you've managed to convince her not to kill you."

"That's not reassuring at all!" Mujoe looked hopefully over at the barkeeper. "Mama, can't you do something about this? Tell him what a bad idea this is! It's going to get him killed!"

Mama took a drag on her cigarette and blew out a heart-shaped smoke ring from between full crimson lips. "Oh, you know what they say," she mused in her trademark throaty voice. "_To make a young couple love each other, it is only necessary to oppose and separate them._"

Mujoe frowned and sighed. He clapped a hand onto Rukifellth's shoulder, almost knocking him off the barstool. "It was nice knowing you, pal," he said sadly.

The three Hige Hige Bandits nodded in unison and began humming a funeral march.

Rukifellth threw all of them a dirty look. "Will you cut with the theatrics? Sheesh." He picked off the slice of fruit from the rim of his cocktail glass and popped it into his mouth, chewing on it. "Hey, Mama, get me another milkfruit light, will you?"

The front door chimed, signaling another visitor. All heads turned to see Lilith walk into the bar, looking shy and uncertain in a strapless black dress that flared out from just below her hips, the skirt swinging with every step she took. She wore red patent leather flats and clutched a red plaid purse with silver accents. Around her neck was a black velvet choker with a silver cross in the center. Her hair was pulled up into a messy but stylish ponytail.

Rukifellth, Mujoe, and the Hige Hige Bandits stared at her without shame, not even bothering to keep their mouths from dropping open.

Lilith pursed her lips and glanced away with a natural blush rising in her cheeks. "All right, fine," she said, "I get the idea that I look really weird in this, so could you all stop staring, please?"

"Weird? You're gorgeous!" Rukifellth slid off his barstool and went to hug her tightly. He grinned at her. "Absolutely stunning. Where'd you get the dress, though? I thought you didn't have much of a wardrobe in the Circle."

Lilith crossed her arms and smirked. "Where do you _think_ I got it?"

"...ah, right, of course. Borrowing it for a night, I'm assuming. Well, I'm glad you knew someone who was willing to, ahem, _lend_ you a Dioni designer dress worth 20,000 galactic gold! You should thank her for being _so generous_." Rukifellth winked at her.

She didn't laugh, but judging from the way the corners of her mouth were quirking up, she clearly wanted to. "Thanks for the tip. Do you know what we're doing tonight?"

Rukifellth took her hand in his and squeezed it tightly. "Anything you want."

"H-how about staying here for a drink or two?" Mujoe volunteered, flailing his arms about. "I can recommend some great ones!"

Mama whapped him lightly on the back of his head with a rolled-up towel. "Now, now, she's Ruki's date, not yours," she scolded.

Mujoe pouted at her. "I was trying to help out as a friend."

Rukifellth laughed. "I'll call if I need anything. See you guys later!"

As Rukifellth and Lilith walked out the door, Mujoe let out a sigh. He plunked his head onto the bar counter in despair. "If I'd known that the Scourge was so beautiful, I'd have tried to get her myself! No luck at all, I swear..."

"There, there, honey." Mama set three bottles of her strongest liquor in front of Mujoe. "Let the bottle be your date for tonight."

The three Hige Hige Bandits immediately snatched up a bottle each and guzzled them into emptiness.

B-O-M-B

**Mama's quote about opposing and separating a young couple is by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.**


	17. Vacation

B-O-M-B

_**Vacation – chibi**_

B-O-M-B

"Man!" Bomberman stretched and grinned before poking at a pile of noodles on his plate with chopsticks. "I can't thank you enough for bringing me along on this trip, Rukifellth. This has been a blast so far! Great food, great company, no worries...I'm lovin' it!"

Rukifellth grinned back as he was slicing up a steak. "Like I said, it's no problem at all."

"You certainly deserve the vacation," Lilith added.

Bomberman, Rukifellth, and Lilith were three days into a week-long all-expenses-paid trip on one of Quickway's luxury trains, sponsored by the local radio station KBOM 95.2. Rukifellth had won the trip after being the 30th caller to the station, and had been allowed to bring two friends along with him. Of course, he brought Bomberman and Lilith along for the ride. The three of them were now enjoying a fine dinner at the moment, dressed in somewhat formal clothes. Lilith was wearing a sleek black cocktail dress with dainty heels, while Rukifellth and Bomberman were clad in dress shirts with slacks and nice shoes.

While Bomberman had been enjoying his time on the trip, though, Lilith had been fairly quiet and pensive, in vast contrast to her normally sunny nature. She sat now, chewing quietly on a piece of broccoli, staring blankly at nothing in particular on the white tablecloth.

Bomberman regarded her with some concern. "Hey, Lilith, are you all right?"

Lilith waved him off. "I'm fine," she insisted. "I'm just lost in my own thoughts without a map."

"Well...okay." Bomberman didn't seem entirely convinced. "But if you want to talk, you can talk to me anytime, okay?"

A smile from Lilith. "Thanks. You're always a great help."

Bomberman blushed slightly and occupied himself with his food.

Rukifellth raised an eyebrow. "W-wait a minute, so what does that make me? Atoms of swamp scum?"

"Nah," Lilith responded. "Just an unnatural pervert."

"Don't you think that's a bit redundant?"

"You're a freak among the freaks. It's perfectly logical."

Rukifellth placed a hand to his heart and pouted at her. "Oh, what sharp words that wound me!"

"Save it, Romeo," Lilith said, rolling her eyes amusedly.

Bomberman suddenly stood up, looking pained. "Er, mind excusing me for a moment?" he asked. "Nature's calling and the answering machine isn't picking up." He stumbled off to the bathroom, clutching his stomach.

A beat.

Rukifellth shrugged. "You know, I _did_ warn him about the sushi."

"Dummy!" Lilith snapped, glaring at him. "You're the one who told him that eating all the wasabi was a surefire way to make sure he could keep the sushi in! That's probably why he's so indisposed right now!"

"It's not my fault if his stomach linings aren't made of steel." Before Lilith could call him on this rather callous remark, Rukifellth leaned forward on the table, resting his chin in his hand and gazing at her. "So what's with you, Lilith?"

"What?"

"Don't play the innocent with me. I know when there's something bothering you. What is it? I mean..." And he waved his other hand around vaguely. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But I'm just letting you know that I know something's up with you."

Lilith took a sip from her water glass. "No, it's fine. I didn't want to talk about this in front of Bomberman because I didn't want to ruin his good mood." She solemnly set down the glass. "I...I think someone from Bad Guys Inc. is on board somehow."

Rukifellth scrunched his brows together. "You're not serious."

"Well, if it's not them, it's someone with a _really_ bad aura."

"But why would Bad Guys Inc. be here?" Rukifellth asked, perplexed. "If their goal is collecting energy, this is one of the worst places to be. Everyone here's mellower than yellow!"

"They might be after m – er, I mean Bomberman."

Rukifellth grinned widely. He leaned closer and lowered his voice. "Come off it, Magic Knight Erina. There's no way you could have fooled me forever. I'm your best friend, for the love of Mihaele! At least, I hope I'm at least on good terms with you."

Lilith glanced cautiously at him, frowning. "What makes you think that I'm Erina Sasami?"

"Pfft! Isn't it obvious? Erina looks just like you, only with two purple dumplings pinned to either side of her head and a cute little pink cheongsam dress! Let me tell you, the pantyshots from that thing are _fan-tastic!_"

She turned bright red. "Leave me alone about my outfit! Just because it's short doesn't mean you can tease me about it!"

"Aha!" Rukifellth pointed a triumphant finger at Lilith. "So you _are_ Erina!"

Lilith blinked stupidly at Rukifellth for a moment. "Argh!" she groaned, putting her face into her hands. "I hate you so much right now."

He winked. "Love you too, dear." He took a bite of steak before continuing. "Anyway, you don't need to worry. Your secret's safe with me."

Lilith glared out from between her fingers. "Until someone decides to buy it from you for eleventy-nine million galactic gold."

"Okay, now _that_ actually hurts," said Rukifellth, pointing his fork at her and looking miffed.

She sighed and lowered her hands. "Sorry. It's just that this whole business is a pain in the neck and then some. I've been stressing on it ever since I got stuck with the job."

"I can tell. And it can't be easy with Bomberman and Zhael hating on your Erina persona. Although to be honest...I think poor Bomberman would just be really, really confused if he found out. Hey, don't worry, I'm not going to tell him!" Rukifellth said quickly after Lilith shot him a panicked look. "I already said your secret was safe with me, right? Can't you trust me on that?"

"Of course I can." Lilith leaned back in her seat. She took her spoon and drew lines in her mountain of mashed potatoes with it. "It's just that...I'm wondering if there's going to be some sort of punishment on me for you finding out."

Rukifellth blinked. "Er, why would there be?"

"Well, see, there's some sort of holy law that apparently I'm not allowed to tell anyone that I'm...that I'm not allowed to tell anyone what my side job is. If I break that, Bad Things will happen."

"...but you _didn't_ tell me. I figured it out."

"I know. But you know how laws like to have little loopholes and clauses and corollaries and such."

"Ha! Of course I know. You and I exploit them all the time to get ourselves out of trouble."

Lilith laughed at that, but her cheerful mood was brief. "Ruk, believe me when I say I would've told Bomberman about this the instant I found out. Even if he got mad at me for it. But I can't say anything because, well, Bad Things will happen, and I'd rather not be the bringer of Bad Things."

"...I don't suppose I could ask what kind of bad things those 'Bad Things' entail, could I?"

Lilith shook her head.

"Trade secret, eh?"

She shook her head again. "I don't even know what they are. I tried asking and no one would tell me. But the words are capitalized, so it must be pretty bad, you know?"

"I guess that makes sense." A beat. "Hey...you wouldn't need, like, a Tuxedo Mask to your Sailor Moon, would you?" He winked. "'Cause I'm up for the job."

Lilith frowned and crossed her arms. "Are you saying that you don't think I can handle things on my own? That I'm some stupid blonde ditz who couldn't wave a plastic wand to save her life without Mr. Phantom of the Soap Opera to back her up, who doesn't even do anything except toss around flowers like a flower girl?"

"Huh? N-no, that's not it at all – what are you – ?"

When Bomberman came back to the table a relieved man, he found Lilith in the spasms of a gigglefit and Rukifellth covered in mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables.


	18. Snuggle

B-O-M-B

_**Snuggle – chibi**_

B-O-M-B

The first time Rukifellth attempted to give Lilith a stuffed animal as a gift (a white bunny, to be specific), she had shown her appreciation by promptly decorating it with no less than twenty throwing knives and then punting the thing straight out of Rukifellth's hands, suspicious of what might have been hidden within the toy – and also annoyed with Rukifellth's attentions. No surprise there; she'd still been with the Azurite Circle then, and as a result distrusted practically everyone, including and especially the obnoxious pretty boy aristocratic stalker pirate who had presented her with the stuffed animal in the hopes of getting her to smile every now and again.

Rukifellth, though startled and disappointed, took it in stride. After all, Lilith wasn't about to tell him upfront what she liked, so clearly it was his job to figure it out for himself. He was up to the task, he thought. But he was bound to make mistakes here and there, right? _Okay_, he told himself as he walked away from that scene, _make sure that anything you give Lilith later on doesn't have polyester filling in it. Easy enough!_

So imagine his surprise when, about a year later, after he'd freed her from the grip of the Azurite Circle, he happened to peek inside the open door to Lilith's room in their spaceship and found her snoozing peacefully on her futon...while cuddling the very stuffed bunny she'd nearly mutilated when he'd first given it to her.

Rukifellth blinked. He crept closer for a better look, unable to believe that she'd salvaged – and _kept!_ – the thing after all this time.

But there it was in all its fluffy, bunny-riffic glory: he recognized the blue choker tied around its neck (his younger sister Lulu had generously donated one of her older ones to the romantic cause). Stitches and fabric patches covered it like scars, marking where Lilith had attacked it so mercilessly. Stuffing was leaking out between the seams. One of its tiny black eyes had been replaced with a large green button. The bunny had clearly gone through the underworld and back...but then again, so had Lilith.

The next morning, at breakfast, Rukifellth sat down next to Lilith and asked her: "So, when did you start sleeping with animals?"

Lilith dumped her apple cinnamon oatmeal on his head and stormed off in a fluster.


	19. Game

B-O-M-B

_**Game – realistic**_

B-O-M-B

She finds Rukifellth waiting impatiently for her at their rendezvous point: a back street alley on Starlight near the casino that she's been scouting out for her Circle siblings to raid later that week. Judging from the feverish way he pins her against a brick wall and kisses her, it seems to her that his impatience has nothing to do with her being late – which she isn't, by the by.

"You could've at least let me say hello," Lilith says when she can finally catch her breath.

Rukifellth only smiles and nibbles on her earlobe, eliciting a startled gasp of delight from her. "Mmm...they're more like 'guidelines', if you will."

Her arms clutch to him as though he were her savior from some imminent calamity; her hands tangle in his long hair, and she willingly, fully returns the caresses he bestows upon her. It's only been a week since she last saw him, but it feels like years to her lovesick teenage mind. And as physically close as she is to him now...she feels painfully distant from him, no thanks to the skintight bodysuit she is wearing for her mission, which covers every inch of her body from her neck down.

As if reading her mind, one of Rukifellth's hands slides up her body to rest gently over the front zipper of the suit. He meets her eyes: an unspoken request for permission.

She nods.

Slowly, as he leans forward to suck gently on her lower lip, Rukifellth slides the zipper down. Lilith can feel the clicks of the zipper's teeth as they unlock to expose her neck, her collarbone, and just enough cleavage to catch someone's eye without being too revealing. His hands peel back the suit from her neck, and he lowers his head to let his tongue taste the hollow of her throat. Desire hums in Lilith's veins at the intimate contact of his skin against hers. She savors it for as long as she can...which is unfortunately rather on the short side.

"Lilith!" A girl's voice, melodic and sweet as it is, shatters the romantic idyll like a banshee scream breaking windows. "Lilith, where are you? It's me!"

Lilith lets out a hissed breath of frustration. "Falrini's done with her end already?" she murmurs.

"Man, you Circle chicks are fast little gerbils, aren't you?" Rukifellth kisses her one last passionate time. "Oh, well. I'll just see you around, then."

"Liars' Club?" Lilith asks, naming a common gathering place for those involved on the law-breaking side of life.

Rukifellth gives a thumb's-up. "You know it, love." With a reassuring – if also regretful – smile, he turns to disappear into the shadows of the alley.

"What were you doing?" Falrini asks accusingly when she catches up to Lilith.

Lilith frowns as she zips up her bodysuit again. "Getting close to Kourichi," she replies. "Like Mother Elsa ordered."

Falrini crosses her arms as she eyes Lilith up and down. "Surely you don't need to get _that_ close. That's lust-crime already! The goddess Leustheria would not approve."

"It's sanctioned by the Great Mother herself," Lilith says haughtily, "since it's for the greater glory of the Circle. If I can get close enough into Rukifellth's confidences to find and lead the Circle to his vault of stolen goods, I'll be absolved of any sins I commit."

There's just the tiniest bit of a vindictive sneer at the edge of Falrini's lips. "Including the sin of self-pleasure?"

Doing something with thought only to one's own happiness is disallowed. Only through making others happy is one allowed to be happy. Never mind the inherent rhetorical and semantic problems with this approach to life: this is the ultimate tenet of the Azurite Circle.

"You honestly think I'm getting _any_ pleasure out of something like _that?_" Lilith asks. She brushes past Falrini, and throws a smirk over her shoulder, as though she's talking to a painfully naive child. "It's all a game, Rini. And I'm playing it to win for the betterment of the Circle. It's a game to me...and it's a game to Rukifellth. It doesn't mean a single thing to anyone until we see who wins."

But later that night, in the cool solitude of her room, Lilith dreams of his mouth and his hands exploring the more forbidden places of her body.


	20. Good morning

B-O-M-B

_**Good morning – chibi**_

B-O-M-B

"Ruk?"

"..."

"Ruk, sweetie, wake up."

"..."

"Rukifellth, it's time to wake up."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Hey, there's about ten Space Skipper ships surrounding ours right now, and they look a little miffed."

"..."

"Naitori called us back – he's got another unique item location that we might want to follow up on. He said this one was definitely worth big bucks."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...I'm wearing a cute new lingerie set I just stole from Vyctoria's Secret."

"I'm up, I'm up! ...hey! That's not lingerie – that's one of my old T-shirts, baby! What gives? How could you lead me on like that? And I was having nice dreams about you, too!"

"Save your tears. If you hadn't woken up on your own, I would've gone over to the cargo hold and dropped The Only Military Sci-Fi Ceramic Novel Of Its Kind on your head."

"...you _wouldn't_."

"Well, now you're up, so there's no need for such drastic measures. Yay."

"Why're you so intent on being my own personal alarm clock today, though? If you were going to wake me up, you could've done it a little more...ahem...pleasantly."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...why do you look like you're ready to use me as a voodoo doll?"

"Rukifellth...what day is it today?"

"...your birthday?"

"That was two weeks ago – and you would've missed that one if Bomberman hadn't called asking whether we were doing anything for it."

"Oh, right, sorry."

"..."

"..._my_ birthday?"

"Are you even trying?"

"Wait, wait, I've got it!"

"Yes?"

"It's Freddie Mercury's birthday!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...right?"

"It's our _anniversary._"

"...oh, crap. What did I promise to enslave myself to you for today?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...Lilith, why do you have that look of Zoniha-glee on your face? It's really very scary."

"Because...if _you_ don't have anything planned for our anniversary...then I guess _I'll_ just have to make things up on the fly."

"Wha - ? Hey, where are you going? Lil!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Back!"

"...oh nononononono—_PUT THAT 'YAOI' PADDLE AWAY!_"


	21. Hobbies

B-O-M-B

_**Hobbies – chibi**_

B-O-M-B

Rukifellth plays acoustic guitar. He'd showed no interest in the more "refined" instruments of his social class such as piano, flute, voice, or violin, but he loved music nonetheless, so he snitched money from the family vault to buy his own guitar. Seiya, tellingly, was more unhappy with Rukifellth's choice of such a "common" instrument than he was about the stolen money, but Andrea managed to convince him – not long before she died – to let Rukifellth have his guitar if that meant he could express whatever musical talent he had.

He doesn't actually _have_ a lot of musical talent to express. But he's found that he apparently has enough talent to entertain Lilith with, and that makes him happy.

B-O-M-B

Lilith cuts and styles hair. It was one of the sole pleasures afforded to her while in the Azurite Circle, under the pretense of evading recognition and capture by authorities. Mohawks, bobs, layers, lolita curls, pigtails, odangos...nothing is off-limits to her. She happily experiments with clips, bows, braids, dyes, and barrettes.

Sometimes, she even experiments with all of them at the same time.

And when she does, it's usually on Rukifellth.


	22. Five more minutes?

B-O-M-B

_**Five more minutes? – realistic **_

B-O-M-B

They meet while on the run from the law.

The young woman can fly, but that would draw too much attention at the moment. So she escapes down the darkened street by foot, her steps measured but light and fast. She's just lifted a priceless vase from a temporary exhibit in the Museum of Archaic History, located in Heliopolis on the planet Charmidea. For most people, such a feat would have been crazy, unthinkable, the stuff of fiction.

For her, it's merely another night's work.

The cloisonne vase is large and heavy, but her half-demonic heritage gives her the strength to bear it while keeping up a steady pace. Her siblings-in-crime will be waiting in an escape vehicle a few blocks further down. She is getting tired, but she will survive...as she always has.

The young man stands in her way, a smirk on his face. Like her, he is dressed entirely in black, although his clothes are far looser than the cybernetic bodysuit she wears. His long hair, a robin's egg blue by day but a murky sort of aqua green under the yellow light of the street lamp, falls freely down his back. He wears a visor of iridescent blue.

She stops in her tracks at this uexpected obstacle.

He gestures. "Mind if I take that heavy thing off your hands?" he offers. His dialect is common, but his accent is highborn.

"Out of my way if you don't want to die," she snarls, and with a free hand, she flings three golden knives of pure chi energy sailing at him.

_SW-SWWSH-CHINNNGG!_

In half a blink, the young man deflects away the knives with the practiced flick of a crystalline rapier blade. As the knives disintegrate into fine particles of light, he points the rapier at her. "I'd really hate to have to slice up that pretty face of yours," he says, "but if you're going to be difficult..."

She only flings more energy knives at him. He artfully dodges each and every one, practically dancing around them as though they were nothing more than stage props.

The young woman growls. She can't afford to lose any more time. Her escape route will leave without her if she is a second late. She quickly formulates a plan in her mind.

"Fine," she says sourly. "Go ahead and take it, if that means you'll leave me alone." She holds out the vase.

The young man laughs. "What an ultimatum!" he says. "Having to leave a pretty girl like you alone just for an ugly old thing like that vase? I think not!" But he walks forward anyway.

When he is close enough, she yanks the vase away and kicks him in the gut.

_WHAM!_

Gasping and coughing in pain, he doubles over.

The young woman darts off with the treasure into the cold night.

Mission accomplished – five minutes remaining.


	23. Sunburn

B-O-M-B

_**Sunburn – chibi**_

B-O-M-B

Within the wooden confines of a rented mountain lodge at a posh ski resort, Rukifellth wandered, alone and sunburned.

It really was rather silly, he grumbled to himself as he passed by a window and caught glimpses of the unmarked snowy wonderland outside. Everyone knew that sunburns were the stuff of crazy beach outings in the dead of summer, not holiday retreats in winter! Sunburns went with sand and surf like peanut butter went with ketchup and pickles! ...wait, that probably wasn't such a great analogy to use, since very few people were enlightened about the divine truth known as peanut butter, ketchup, and pickles sandwiches.

Rukifellth plopped himself down in a plush armchair by a currently unlit fireplace and sighed. He'd been more than willing to endure the scoldings from Lilith because he'd completely disregarded her warnings the day before about the dangers of sunburn, and he'd agreed to let Lilith force him to stay indoors for a day and recover a bit while slathered in aloe vera lotion, but really, couldn't she at least also have had the courtesy to provide him with some form of entertainment for the day while she, Bomberman, and Pommy dallied about in the snow and ate expensively-priced-but-ridiculously-delicious warm goodies at the hilltop cafe like one big happy family? Really, it was like the woman was trying to _make_ him suffer.

At the thought of food, his empty stomach reared back in his gut and gave a mighty roar of indignation, demanding its fill. Rukifellth gave another grumble and sighed, knowing that there wasn't anything in the fridge he could consume without moving his mouth too much, because dammit, having to use his facial muscles _hurt_. (...okay, it didn't hurt as much as accidentally being on the receiving end of a superbomb from Bomberman, but it still _hurt _and it was _annoying_.) He comforted himself by entertaining the scenario of him dying of malnutrition and starvation today, and imagining Lilith sobbing dramatically while cradling his limp, skeletal body in her arms, while Bomberman and Pommy bowed their heads in respect to the passing of a great man.

He had gotten to the part where Lilith had stopped in the middle of her heartfelt eulogy at his funeral to throw herself into his coffin with his corpse, declaring that she would join him in death soon, when the door creaked open and in stepped Lilith holding two large frappuccinos in her mittened hands.

"_Please_ tell me one of those is for me," he begged, looking at her with the most pitiful expression he could muster.

"What if I don't?" Lilith asked slyly, but she set one of them on the table in front of Rukifellth. He grabbed it and slurped at it greedily while Lilith set her frappuccino aside and went to hang her jacket in the closet.

Rukifellth finished off half of the frappuccino before speaking again. "Ahhh, never has brain freeze felt so good. So where's the bomber and his creampuff?"

"Shredding the slopes. Well, Bomberman's snowboarding, at least, and he's amazingly good at it! You should've seen him earlier today, it was ridiculous! I think Pommy's off sulking in the cafe about how Bomberman's a show-off or something. Poor thing isn't big enough to use the skiis _or_ a snowboard, so Bomberman and I had to switch off carrying Pommy as we navigated the different slopes." She took her frappuccino and sat down on the couch next to Rukifellth. "How are you doing?"

"Why, I'm just fine, thank you! After all, it's not like I was abandoned here by those I thought were my friends! And it's not like I was left with nothing to do except stew in my own flaking epidermis and carbon dioxide! And it's certainly not like my girlfriend went off to enjoy a beautiful day at a ski resort with the Biggest Damn Hero ever even while knowing I was all alone here, no sir! Because that would just be _mean,_ and a girl named after the first whore of the Garden of Eden could _never_ be expected to be mean!"

"Mind checking out the carpet near you? I think I just rolled my eyes so hard that they fell out of my head." Lilith glared at him. "And didn't I tell you before we left this morning to get in touch with Honey about a potential collaboration over getting The Only Spam Mail Kimono Of Its Kind on planet Haponi? Surely _you_ wouldn't pass up a chance to talk to another cute girl while I'm gone."

Rukifellth crossed his arms and pouted – then promptly winced as the sunburn reasserted its territory. "You have no faith at all in me! Besides, Honey's cute, but she's also scarier than a PMSing Sthertoth. I don't trust any ovary-owning creature who can wield explosive phallic objects like she does."

"...waitaminute, then what does that make _me?_"

"The most trigger-happy tart of them all. _AAAHPLEASEDON'THITMEPAAAAAIIINNNN!"_

Lilith promptly replaced the throw pillow – unused in the deliverance of a thwapping – to its previous place in a corner of the couch. "You do have a point about Honey, though. I don't trust her too much either, but I'm willing to take the risk since the two-way payout from getting that thing will last you and me for a good while." She paused. "Assuming that Honey doesn't just run off with the kimono once we've found it."

"Ha! She'll need our help if she wants that thing in one piece." Rukifellth waved his hand dismissively. "There's a reason she usually hunts bounties instead of going after loot – she doesn't have the patience or appreciation for the fine art of treasure hunting. The kimono would be put through the shredder within half a second of her getting her hands on it."

Lilith took a dainty sip of her frappuccino. "Personality dissections aside, did you talk to her?"

"I tried to put a call through to her ship, but she wasn't there. I just left a message with that ninja apprentice of hers."

Lilith nodded. "Okay. Thanks." She leaned over to kiss Rukifelth gently on his ear.

Rukifellth beamed. "You may praise me more!"

"Hmm. Maybe after I get some sleep." Lilith yawned as she snuggled up against him. "_Maybe_."

Rukifellth's arm snaked around her waist and pulled her closer. "Tease. You're going to abandon me again when you've just gotten back?"

"It's only for an hour or so, you silly drama llama. I promised Bomberman I'd meet him and Pommy back at that one seafood restaurant for lunch, and if I don't want to fall asleep on my flounder I need some Z's." She smiled drowsily up at him. "You should come too – the lobsters will be so happy to meet someone that looks just like them. Once they see you, they'll go peacefully to their bubbly ends, to cheerfully meet the Devourer within your gastrointestinal system!"

Rukifellth sighed. "A girl so cute...and yet so cruel..."


	24. Honesty

B-O-M-B

**_Honesty – realistic_**

B-O-M-B

If Lilith has to be honest with herself, she has to admit that she really likes Bomberman.

Really, _really_ likes him.

It's more than a little baffling to her. After all, she's barely known the guy for even two or three weeks, and this is, what, the fourth time she's spent any significant amount of time in his presence? But Bomberman is an easy person to like, exuding a boyish sort of maturity that coalesces into a pure trustworthiness that she rarely sees in the darkness of the path she walks. Normally she'd scoff at the thought of such a paragon actually existing in this world, but there's also a cynical streak in him that mars an otherwise polished surface of virtue and idealism, dulling the brightness so she can see him for who he is.

It wouldn't be such a big deal if _he_ weren't also interested in _her_, Lilith thinks to herself as she tends to his battle injuries in the lavish hotel room they're camping out in at Tolbi Casino. Oh, yes, she knows about his crush; it's so painfully, endearingly obvious. But she humors him his attempts to hide his affection, because it makes everything simpler to deal with. It makes it easier to pretend that there's no reason, none at all, to want to take their relationship further (and it's _barely_ a relationship, really, it's more like an acquaintanceship). She'd struck up a professional connection with the young man on Alcatraz because she thought he could be useful to her plans for taking down the BHB Army and its artificial black hole. She certainly hadn't been looking for anything more. Not when she already has Rukifellth.

But does she have Rukifellth, really? He's been gone for two years already, and _possessed_ to boot. He must be possessed, to assemble this BHB Army and brainwash the Elemental Knights of legend into his own Astral Knights and do all sorts of weird things that the Rukifellth she knew would never have thought of. Could he even be saved?

(And how does she know that Rukifellth is possessed, anyway? How does she know about the background of the Astral Knights? Lilith is fairly certain she wasn't aware of such things before, but she can't remember ever having learned them while doing her reconnaissance. Things have been weird like that, lately.)

Lilith continues slathering medicinal gel onto Bomberman's various wounds and cuts, pale caramel fingers gliding along vanilla-light skin. She traces a crimson line along one of his shoulder blades, then another one running parallel to his spine, the motions leaving a trail of a translucent peach-tinted gel. As she takes a break to survey her work, she finds herself admiring the form of his back, the sinews and muscles that make it up. He has nice shoulders, too, not too broad and not too scrunched together. She feels the urge to reach out and give him a shoulder rub, like Rukifellth had taught her once. The poor guy could certainly use one.

She almost goes through with it before she stops and wonders whether that would be way too intimate for their current level of interaction.

_Well, you've already convinced him to get half-naked,_ a voice sniggers in her head. It sounds eerily like Rukifellth. _Might as well take advantage of it, right?_

_I'm just concerned about him _**_professionally_**_, _Lilith counters.

_Doesn't mean you can't also be interested in what he looks like without his clothes on._

Lilith is utterly thankful that Bomberman's got his back turned to her at the moment, because that way he can't see the blush that's suddenly burning up her face. Pommy, too, is distracted by something on TV, but she often suspects that the cute critter is more perceptive than anyone gives him credit for.

With a calming breath, she returns to her work, trying to focus on only that. But Lilith can't help but notice the warmth of his skin through her fingertips, the give of his body beneath her touch, and she feels a pang of loneliness — she hasn't had any significant physical contact with anyone ever since Rukifellth disappeared. She hates admitting that she sorely misses that sort of thing, since she was just fine without it before Rukifellth waltzed into her life and completely ruined that.

But she does miss it, a lot.

And really, both her _and_ Bomberman could use some comfort right now, couldn't they?

_Stop that!_ she chided herself. _What would Rukifellth think?_ Pause. _Actually, he'd probably be really amused, wouldn't he. I mean, the Scourge of the Spaceways falling for a goody two-shoes like Bomberman? _Lilith exhales. _More seriously...would Rukifellth want me to find someone while he's gone?_

As a member of Dalukah's upper class on the planet Yretsym, Rukifellth has a slightly different view from Lilith of what constitutes acceptable conduct in a romantic/intimate relationship. He'd been engaged since birth to a girl from another aristocratic family, but it was widely expected, even _encouraged_, for both of them to have lovers outside of their relationship — and multiple ones at the same time, if they were so inclined. Rukifellth continually insisted that he and Nerutia had only ever been friends and nothing more, but upon realizing Lilith's discomfort with the arrangement, he risked complete disownment from the rest of his social class (well, more than he already had when he took up a life of piracy) by breaking off the engagement with her.

_Do the standards of Dalukan aristocracy apply to an orphan from a nameless podunk town on Zelkova? _she wonders.

Having finished the application of medicinal gel to the necessary places, Lilith wipes off her hands on a towel and reaches for a roll of gauze bandages before thinking better of it. "Are you planning on taking a shower?" she asks Bomberman. "Because if you are, I'll hold off on putting these things on."

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, that'd probably be a good idea." Bomberman slides off the bed and scoops up his sweatshirt and undershirt from the floor before heading for the bathroom.

A crazy idea occurs to Lilith then, and before she can think too hard about it, she says: "You know...those clothes of yours look like they've been through hell and back in a handbasket."

Bomberman gazes down at the clothes in his arms and on his body, looking thoughtful. "Well," he says, "I can just wash them and let them dry overnight, and they should be all right for a while..."

"By Frithazar's fangs they will! They'll fall apart if someone so much as breathes on them. I'm taking you shopping tomorrow."

Bomberman gives her a flabbergasted look. "_What?_ No way, you already paid for the hotel room! I'll be fine!"

Lilith rolls her eyes fondly as she begins to finally take care of her own wounds acquired from the unfortunate run-in with Zhael. "If I can afford two-fifty grand for one night in a hotel, I can afford to get you something decent to wear. No arguments! I know some good stores in Tolbi that you might like."

"I..." Bomberman bowed his head and closed his eyes. "Th-thank you."

She smiles. "Don't look so guilty! It's seriously no problem. Just think of this as a small repayment to you."

He blinks at her. "R-repayment? For what?"

_Oops._ "Er...for, uh, saving my life, of course!"

He's clearly not convinced. "But...but that was just one — "

"I said no arguments! Pommy, mind getting me the room phone? I'll get our dinner once I'm done here."

Thankfully, Bomberman seems to understand that there's no winning this one, and he enters the bathroom. Pommy scales the bed by clutching onto the comforter and heaving himself up to the top before taking the phone from its place on the bedside table and dragging it over to Lilith. "Does Lilith need anything else?"

"I'll be fine. You can go back to watching TV."

But Lilith _doesn't_ know if she'll be fine. She doesn't know if any of this will be fine ever again. There's so much that has gone wrong in so short an amount of time, and with every second that passes it feels like the situation gets exponentially more unfixable. And speaking of unfixable things, who the hell does she think she is, anyway, trying to buy off Bomberman's grief and pain with a shopping spree? Because that's what she's doing, essentially, even if Bomberman himself doesn't seem to realize it. She can't quite decide whether this is better or worse than trying to get into bed with him, but either way it's reprehensible on her part. In the end, it's all about assuaging her own guilt at having dumped this burden on his shoulders, a burden that rightfully belongs to her as the Scourge of the Spaceways — and as the cause of this entire mess, really, as unpredictable as that had been. Any altruism here is a rare instance of a happy side effect for bitter medicine.

_He _**_chose_**_ this, remember,_ another voice argues in her head — not Rukifellth, but one of her "sisters" from the Azurite Circle.

_I shouldn't have _**_given_**_ him that choice._ Lilith presses a gel-covered hand a little too hard into a cut, and both the pressure and the antiseptic quality of the gel produce a satisfying, chastising pain. _I should have kicked him out of this as soon as the chance presented itself. _But this is an argument she's walked herself through countless times already, wearing deep scars into her mind in the process. With an effort, she derails herself from that particular thoughtpath...only to fall into something worse.

_What makes you think Bomberman would want a monster like you, anyway? _This time it's her own voice taunting her. _He only likes you at the moment because he doesn't know how horrible you really are. Best to break his heart sooner than later._

She really should let him know about the tiny detail of being a half-demon space pirate with a background in massacres and assassinations, shouldn't she? She hadn't mentioned anything about it before, partially because it hadn't seemed important in the larger scheme of trying to take down the BHB Army, but also partially because it's rare that she spends any significant amount of time with anyone who doesn't at least suspect that she's not as innocent as she looks. It's nice not to be feared, for once. Even Rukifellth has admitted that he gets scared of her sometimes, and if her own _lover_ can't deal with that part of her, how much more so a white knight like Bomberman? There's no way this sham of an idyllic partnership can last forever.

But if she has to be honest with herself — again — she has to admit that she's going to drag this dream out for as long as she can anyway.


End file.
